AC+Alex

=toc Act 2 Scene 3:=

Cast:
Porter: Alex Macduff: Brian Cho Malcolm: Brian Moon/Alex Macbeth: Brian Moon/Alex Banquo: Yeunseok Donalbain: Yeunseok Lennox: Se June Lady Macbeth: Se June

Scene Analysis
//Scene Hihglihgts//
 * What happens in your scene?**
 * Porter has a short comic relief as he answers the door.
 * Macduff and Lennox enters the scene.
 * Macbeth enters the scene.
 * Characters have a short chat about what happened during the night.
 * Macduff leaves stage to wake King Duncan.
 * Macduff discovers the murder and immediately proceeds to wake everyone.
 * Macbeth also leaves the scene and kills King Duncan's guards.
 * As others decide to have a immediate conference Donalbain and Malcolm slip off in order to escape being murdered.

The purpose of the scene is that it is here where the transition of power from King Duncan to Macbeth is nearly complete not only with the King's death but also because the King's sons immediately give up their place and leave for safety not only giving up their chance to rule but also bringing further suspicion on them later on in the play. Not only is this scene significant because of the power transition, but also due to the fact that this is the first step that Macbeth has willingly murdered of his own accord. The deaths of the two drunken guards illustrates that Macbeth is descending down to that of a tyrant as he starts taking matters into his own hands so that the murder of the king will not be discovered.
 * What is the purpose/importance of your scene?**

Well, I mostly find the atmosphere of this scene to be quite anxious not only due to the fact that death is literally hanging over the characters but because of the heightened tensions the characters already bear before the murder is discovered. This is shown when Macduff converses with the others about how the night has been just completely awful with chimneys breaking down and the earth itself shaking. This tension that builds up and explodes at the death of King Duncan leads me to believe that this scene is the climax of the play rather the murder of King Duncan itself. I was also shocked when I first read this scene because Macbeth starts murdering "spontaneously" without remorse which shows that he sense of morals is declining rapidly after the murder of King Duncan.
 * What are your reactions to this scene?**

Character Report
[I will try my best to answer these questions although the questions might not really coincide with my character :) ]

Well, here the porter doesn't want anything like other characters rather, he just wants to make believe that he is the porter of hellgate and that his basic goal is to open the door to what he wants to imagine as newcomers to hell. He also seems to want to entertain himself by pretending to be far more than just a "porter" by pretending to a porter for hell. However, what the porter really wants is hard to tell due to the fact that he is drunk.
 * What does the porter want in this scene?**

I was at first unsure of the porter's real motivation for acting in such an unique way in this play. But when he comes to the end of his soliloquy he begs the audience to not forget him. As a result this leads be to believe that the porter wants a more significant place within his society and is at heart ambitious to climb the ladders of society. But also, if we take his soliloquy into account the alcohol he may be consumed might also be providing the motivation but at the same time trying to depress him, because according to the Porter he said that he was trying fight against effects of alcohol consumption and Macduff says "I believe that the drink gave thee the lie last night."
 * What is the porter's motivation for doing what he does?**

Namely, being drunk is the only obstacle of his original goal of opening the door. Funnily enough, this drunkenness at the same time is his greatest encourager to seek out his goals. I wish I could expand on this line of reasoning but sadly, I just can't seem to find any real support for this since its doesn't fit with the character. :)
 * What obstacles stand in his way?**

Well, as the porter tries to overcome his drunkenness he launches himself in a lecture of what alcohol does to a man much to the great interest of Macduff and Lennox. He explains how the drink provokes and unprovokes and further provides various examples of how contradictory being drunk can make you become. That is how I see the porter fending off these obstacles.
 * What happens when your character confronts these obstacles?**

I find this to be the best question pertaining to my character because of his the distinct style in which the porter speaks. Firstly, the porter rambles his ways around most of thinks he is talking about. To me he almost seemed like a thesaurus when started naming all the synonyms of proving and unprovoking. This easily tells us that the porter is quite severely drunk. Secondly, the way he imagines himself as a gatekeeper of hell tells us that he is not really in the best of all possible mindsets. All these elements come together to provide a great comic relief for the porter's scene.
 * Are there any distinct elements in porter's way of speaking?**

He is feeling guilt and expresses it too. There is no subtext for he says what he means. For once in the play a character does not have up a false shield around them, and it is interesting to see the outcome. The porter's subtext in this scene is that he is really hiding his sorrow for being "just" a porter and wants to achieve a greater place within society. His drunkenness is just a way for him to relieve himself of that stress to overcome his hardships.
 * What is porter's subtext?**

Costume
- Just a black long coat with a lantern.

Stage
- Everyone should be facing the audience at an angle. - Wh

Self-Reflection
Overall, I was very pleased with our acting although I do have some points for improvement. Well, first our syncronization wasn't really at par and due to the fact that one of our group members were missing we were slightly off-beat. On the other hand, we were able to act quite well in retrospect to others since we researched the meaning of script and we tried to understand as best as possible. I tried my best to support my group bygiving thema dvice abouthow to act and wahat some of the words mean.