Macbeth is one of many Shakespearean tragedies that uses elements of the supernatural. One of the supernatural ingredients is the witches who play an integral part in the play; they provide direction in the plot, affect different characters and are significant to both contemporary and Elizabethan audiences in different ways. The theme of the play is that there is good in every evil, this topic is subtly bought up several times over the course of the play.
The witches open the play with an eerie and mysterious feeling, which sets the tone of the play and acts as a hook through the use of dramatic irony.Shakespeare uses them primarily as a dramatic device to build suspense and a sense of foreboding; furthermore they ignite Macbeth's ambition and drive him to become evil. Shakespeare draws on common Elizabethan beliefs that witches have various magical powers. Witches were believed to harm livestock.
In Macbeth the second witch says she was 'killing swine', suggesting that she was killing farm animals. Witches were also believed to be able to disappear or fly at will. The stage direction 'witches vanish', suggests this ability to disappear and the word 'hover' implies an ability to fly.In these times the stereotypical witch was old and unattractive.
In the play these characteristics become apparent when Macbeth says to the witches 'Speak if you can: what are you? ' this shows that the witches seem inhuman and disfigured. Banquo also says that the witches 'look not like inhabitants of the earth. ' Witches were commonly associated with dark, eerie and empty places; they meet in a 'desolate place' and 'Upon the heath. ' Another belief of the time was the great chain of being in which the King is seen as God's representative on earth.Macbeth breaches this belief by killing the King, which would have been perceived as murdering God's representative on earth and therefore the play would have been seen as controversial; the involvement of the witches help to add to this feeling of un-naturalism.
During the play the number three is used for many witch related occurrences. For example, the first time Macbeth meets the witches there are three witches and there are three predictions. The second time he meets the witches there are three apparitions. Three was a supernatural number in Elizabethan times, with connotations of malevolence.Shakespeare used the number three to make the witches seem more significant to a Shakespearian audience.
For this audience the witches are a deeply significant part of the play that would not only frighten people but also build suspense. The impact the witches have on a modern audience is different to the impact that they would have created on a Shakespearian audience. Firstly, a contemporary audience would think of the witches as a dramatic, fantastical and entertaining device whereas an Elizabethan audience would have taken the witches seriously and been terrified by them.A modern audience, may however suspend their disbelief and find them ominous within the context of the play.
The use of what are nowadays considered cliched witch expressions such as 'Double, double toil and trouble' may even be regarded as comic. To a contemporary audience the witches may also be seen metaphorically as Macbeth's bad conscience. The witches affect a modern audience in many different ways to an Elizabethan audience, mainly due to context and beliefs. The language Shakespeare used to represent the witches was significant in both its context and as a dramatic technique.
Firstly in Elizabethan times the supernatural was often written in verse rather than a prosaic form. In the first scene of the play the first witch asks 'When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightening or in rain? ' This employs the techniques of rhythm and rhyme associated with the supernatural. Secondly, Shakespeare utilised many paradoxes, which give the impression that the witches are being ambiguous. In Macbeth all the witches announce 'Fair is foul, and foul is fair,' which gives us an early clue that the witches are going to be ambiguous and palter with Macbeth and the audience in double tongue.Another clue that suggests Macbeth may not be destined for King, is the way Shakespeare uses the word shalt which is often mistaken for will, however it means shall which is defined as, it is likely to happen.
In Macbeth the third witch says ' All hail Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter', the phrase does not say he will but that he should be King. Shakespeare uses rhyme, rhythm, spell like language and paradoxes to portray the witches as abnormal and set them apart from the other characters. The witches play a pivotal role in the plot of Macbeth.Shakespeare uses them as an indication of what the future will hold for certain characters and to seal Macbeth's fate. The first witch hail's Macbeth as his current title, 'Thane of Glamis' The second witch then hails him as, 'Thane of Cawdor', finally the third witch hails him as 'King hereafter'. The first prophecy manifests, as soon as the witches leave the scene.
The second prophecy, that he will be King, is brought about by his own actions, when he decides to kill King Duncan. Whether this is him messing with fate or the way the witches had predicted him becoming King is unclear and unanswered.The witches also predicted the fate of Banquo's children, when the second witch says 'Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none'. This is the only prediction that does not materialise over the course of the play, consequently the audience is left on a cliff-hanger not knowing whether Banquo's children will become King or not. In Act Four Scene One Macbeth seeks the witches and they feed him with a potion they have been brewing in their cauldrons. Macbeth has several bizarre apparitions, which predict his destiny.
The first apparition tells him to 'beware Macduff' the second apparition tells him that he cannot be harmed by one 'of woman born' and the third apparition tells him he is safe until 'Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsianne Hill. ' Again these predictions come true. The soldiers of the British army surround High Dunsianne Hill with trees from Great Birnam wood. Secondly Macbeth fights Macduff thinking he was born of a woman he decides at a crucial moment to let Macduff live, only to be told that Macduff was born by caesarean and finally Macduff kills Macbeth.The witches' predictions add suspense and edge to the scenes, they also give tension and dramatic irony that the audience know what is going to happen whilst the characters do not. The witches have a significant effect on the characters.
The witches affect Macbeth, the protagonist, by making him delirious with greed. After seeing the witches Macbeth imagines a dagger before him when he is standing beside King Duncan's bed. Macbeth's desperation for power is highlighted in his famous soliloquy when he says 'Is this a dagger which I see before me? Macbeth is the tragic hero in Macbeth, his hamartia is his aspiration, he tries to hide his ambition and evil intent, he says 'Let not light see my black and deep desires', explaining that although he has these ambitions he is trying to resist them. Macbeth is naive and thinks the witches' predictions are fate, which is shown when he says 'Why hath it given me earnest of success? ' He believes the witches comments to be sincere. Banquo is a contrast to Macbeth as he seems unaffected by the witches' predictions and it does not make him more ambitious.He seems to be sceptical about the whole occurrence, he believes that people are often forced into evil through 'instruments of darkness.
' This is exactly what happens to Macbeth who was convinced by the witches. Lady Macbeth, the antagonist can also be seen as responsible for Duncan's murder. The witches affected Lady Macbeth by making her overly ambitious and ruthless. After hearing of Macbeth's meeting with the witches she forces herself to make Macbeth kill King Duncan, she says 'unsex me here and fill me from the crown to the toe topfull of direst cruelty' this is her way of psyching herself up to being cruel to Macbeth.She then becomes forceful towards Macbeth.
This becomes apparent when she says 'When you durst do it, then you were a man. ' meaning when you dared do it you were a man now you are not. Lady Macbeth is almost arrogant in the way she expresses herself by saying 'we'll not fail' this highlights her arrogance. Lady Macbeth's forcefulness and arrogance, ignited by her faith in the witches' prophecies, was most likely the push that forced Macbeth to murder King Duncan. It is apparent that the witches are a highly significant part of Macbeth.Shakespeare's use of: literary techniques, imagery, mysterious dark settings and contrasting reactions from various characters ensure that the witches are regarded as an interesting dramatic device that provide a sense of foreboding and help build suspense to the climax.
While a contemporary audience may view the witches as an imaginary, entertaining device a Shakespearean audience would have viewed them as serious, terrifying characters. The witches are presented using beliefs of the time making them extremely significant characters of the play, without whom the play would not be as entertaining or as suspenseful.
