Manson And Macbeth

Manson and Macbeth

How did histories most notorious cult leader become connected to Shakespeare’s goriest play? There is one man who put these two things together. That man is director Roman Polanski.

To get a better understanding of Roman Polanski's involvement, you require some information on Charles Manson. Charles Manson was born with no name. It took a few weeks for him to actually be given the name Charles. His mother was a lady of the night so Manson never met his father. To make matters worse his teenage mother spent most of her life in jail. This led young Charles into a life of crime.  At the age of about thirteen he committed crimes such as car theft and armed robbery. After two different prison sentences, Manson appeared in San Francisco in 1967. This was the Summer of Love and Manson planned to take advantage of it. He had a way with the ladies so he used it. His followers were the outcasts of society and the victims of parental abandonment.  Father Manson was the answer to all their prayers. He promised them a family and the belief of free love. In 1968 he moved his alleged family to a dude ranch in Los Angeles called Spahn ranch. This ranch was used for western movie sets and was isolated from preying eyes. This is where Manson set up his cult against the United States.  It is important to mention that Manson was a strong believer in the power of music.  He even started a band, with himself as the lead and his followers as back up. He had many music producers come to observe his band at the ranch.  There was one producer who broke the camel’s back and that man was Terry Melcher. Melcher had no interest in recording one of Charles Manson’s songs. Manson didn’t take to kindly to criticism and he was exhausted of having record producers reject his music. For the time being, Manson had taken it quite well but has time wore on and no one was signing him something changed him. He keyed on to one individual for all his failure and he was destined to find him and seek his revenge. Manson found Melcher’s address and went out to find the tormentor of his soul. To his shock, Melcher had moved in the fear of Manson's wrath.  The new residents had no intention on telling this physcopath were he moved. The lady of the house was the pregnant actress Sharon Tate. The outraged Manson, put his second aspiration into motion instead. He constantly believed that God had chosen him to be the savior of Los Angeles.  His alleged prophecy was to start an apocalyptic in proportion conflict between the black and the whites of the Los Angeles area.  To fulfill his prophecy he would have to murder the innocent, leaving the blacks to be racially blamed. He gave this operation the name “Heleter Skeletor” in the honour of Beatles’ song in their “White Album.” Victims of this operation were mainly couples but the world renowned victims were those who were in the Tate house.  Sharon Tate and four of her companions were stabbed and shot continually until they lay limp in a bloody pulp. Manson never actually committed or even witnessed any of theses murders. They were completed be his faithful followers. It is common information that Manson had marijuana and other drugs at the ranch which he gave to his false sons and daughters. This may have turned their brains into mush but this was not Manson's main weapon he used in convincing people. Charles Mansion was a powerful speaker like Hitler and instead of threats he used words to put his followers into his trance.  He made his Family believe that what they were doing was for the better of the world. Then, how is Roman Polanski related to Charles Manson?

Roman Polanski was away in Europe directing a movie when these incidents occurred. His wife fell victim  to one of the attacks. Roman Polanski was married to Sharon Tate. Polanski rushed home once he received the news.What he witnessed when he came home was something that would make the strongest man ill to his stomach. He came to his beloved home that was now in tatters. There was blood on the curtains and blood in pools on the floor.  With the word pig on the kitchen door written in Sharon Tate’s blood. What may have made this the most painful thing to polanski was knowing that his unborn son would never have a life. All of Polanski’s aspirations were long gone. He had lost everything that mattered in his life. He expressed his feelings in the only way he could, through film. Even when Manson was incarcerated for life (originally death penalty) in 1968, Roman Polanski was still depressed. His first film after the murders was Macbeth. It was a very gruesome movie for that time era.  Manson probably inspired Polanski to create a character who truly was a physcopathic and ambitious war lord. This character was probably fulfilling his quest because that is what a greater being told him to do. Every gruesome scene in that movie was inspired by his wife and his unborn son lying in Sharon’s blood on the floor. That memory is probably what haunts Roman Polanski to this very day.