Throughout the play the witches are a manifestation of evil and the storm that seems to move around with them is a prominent feature of their evil. The first scene shows the witches planning to meet Macbeth. The setting of this scene is very important; they meet on a moor in thunder and lightning. These surroundings portray an evil image. The moor is a very lonely, barren and bleak place, while thunder and lightning associate with evil. Another example of this is after Duncan’s murder when the weather turns into a raging storm. “The night has been unruly...strange screams of death” said Lenox.
So, even at the beginning of the play, the theme of evil is apparent. The witches´ language includes rhyming couplets that contradict each other and sound very powerful. “Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air” This quote tells us about the witches´ hatred for all things good, and their love for things that are evil. Shakespeare adds rhyme and rhythm to the witches´ language to emphasize their wickedness. The second part of this quote adds to their image of wickedness and would have created tension among the audience. Perhaps the most famous scene in Macbeth concerns the witches and especially their language.
“Liver of blaspheming Jew, Finger of birth-strangled babe.”
In the middle ages, in Christendom, Jews were considered by many to be the personification of evil and these disgusting images are the ingredients of the witches´ spell. The language used shows the exploitation of innocence and vulnerability by the witches and this links in with the theme of their desire to bring all good things to evil. The imagery conjured up in the spell is one of pure evil and shows their power to supposedly see into the future.
The witches’ power is evident in all three scenes ranging from the conjuring of storms and the storm that travels around with them. This storm not only portrays evil, but power as well. The storm emanates a sign of power right from the start and to the finish of “Macbeth”. Another example of this storm is from Act 1 Scene 3, where the witches’ creation of a storm at sea shows the extent of their power. “Through his bark…tempest-tost”, saying that she created a storm that killed the sailor. I think this suggests that the witches do not have the power over life or death but can exert an evil influence over other things, the weather in this case, to kill them.
The witches appearance and actions in the play are stereotypical of the public perception of witches in the Elizabethan age. Not much was then known about witches and their existence was already beginning to be questioned. The witches in “Macbeth” would probably have been loosely based on the information known about witches at the time.
Some critics say that the witches in “Macbeth” made Macbeth commit the murders, but is it as clear-cut as this? Some say that Macbeth could control his actions as shown when Macbeth says let fate take its course this shows that Macbeth thought of the idea of murder before but the witches just sparked it off. The witches, for example Act 1 Scene 2, did not have the power over life or death, but were able to tempt Macbeth into committing the murders. This ties in with the theme of the Devil in Christianity. The Devil cannot make you do anything but simply tempt you into committing a crime. However you could say that the witches in “Macbeth” were not responsible for all the events leading up to the climax of the play. Critics say that the murders could have taken place, even if the witches had not been present in the play. This gives rise to the other hypothesis, that the witches were able to control Macbeth’s destiny. If they had indeed manipulated his destiny, this would show that the witches in the play did have power over life and death. The witches, who might be considered to be the catalysts to Macbeth’s actions, also affected all of the other characters in the play in some way.
In conclusion I believe that the witches were central to the action of the play and did exert a pressure on Macbeth to perform the murders. However, their powers could not extend as far as to force him to commit the murders. The witches did not force him to do the murder but just enticed him into doing the murder. Their role, as outlined earlier, was that of catalysts.
