I found Cate Frazier’s post titled ‘Red’ to be very interesting and would like to offer my thoughts on it. I want to contest Dave’s interpretation of the old judge, Joseph Kern, being portrayed as a God in ‘Red’. He only spied on his neighbor’s telephone calls to confirm his negative views on human relationships and in this regard at least he was not omniscient. Serving as a judge and passing the final verdict was instrumental in deciding people’s lives, as in the case of the sailor whom he had acquitted earlier, and is comparable to the control exerted by God on humans, by passing judgment upon us. I would also like to argue that the old judge was able to predict the end of Auguste’s relationship, by means of a betrayal from his girlfriend, because his personal experience at a younger age was frighteningly similar to Auguste’s experience. Additionally, his constant observance of the couple by monitoring their phone calls was a significant factor to foretell their future. However, his ability to predict Valentine’s future happiness through a meaningful relationship is rather baffling but could be attributed to the culmination of the coincidental incidences, where she and Auguste were at the same locations on several occasions but never met each other. I found the role played by the old judge, Joseph Kern, to be quite similar to the role played by the three witches in Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’ in various aspects.
In ‘Macbeth’, the witches bear a heavy influence on Macbeth although his free will drives him towards reaching the witches’ predicted outcome in the play. In Macbeth’s first meeting with the witches, they predict that Macbeth would be the future Thane of Cawdor and the future King of Scotland “Second Witch: All hail, Macbeth! Hail to Thee, Thane of Cawdor! / Third Witch: All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter! (1.3, Lines 49 – 51). Macbeth’s trust in the witches’ is increased greatly when he is eventually declared the Thane of Cawdor. Then, Macbeth immediately contemplates the murder of King Duncan en route to becoming the next King, thereby fulfilling the witches’ third prophecy. The witches only predict that Macbeth will be the future King but Macbeth’s evil intentions leads him to a murderous course towards taking the crown. I also saw ‘Macbeth’ being performed by the APT at the PAC in my freshman year. In APT’s performance of Macbeth, the manner in which the witches set up the equipments in some of the scenes is very similar to the witches’ prediction of Macbeth’s future because the witches do not force Macbeth to commit murders but rather set up the stage for Macbeth to drive his free will, much like them setting up the stage equipment for the next scenes.
Although the witches bear an evil influence on ‘Macbeth’, their role is similar to the role played by the old judge in ‘Red’ because it is their actions that dictate what happens in Macbeth’s life. In ‘Red’, the old judge confesses his misdemeanors to court and sends out letters to his neighbors stating his surveillance of their telephone calls. His actions enable Auguste’s girlfriend to meet another man in court, whom she eventually has an affair, resulting in her separation from Auguste. The old judge plays no part in actually introducing them and it is left to their free will. His actions also prompt Valentine to visit him and plead her innocence. He confesses his crimes with the knowledge of Valentine’s subsequent visit but does not directly influence her to visit him. He also encourages Valentine to go to her desired destination by Ferry but he does not mention anything about meeting Auguste specifically. Previously, he had just mentioned that Valentine would be very happy in the next forty to fifty years, which Valentine believed readily. This is similar to the way the witches’ predict Macbeth’s rise to becoming the future King of Scotland but Macbeth contemplates murdering the King right away to achieve his objective. By the end, Macbeth places unbound faith in the witches’ predictions but he achieved his objectives without any direct assistance from the witches.
Source: Kieslowski, Krzysztof. 'Red'
Shakespeare, William. 'Macbeth'
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