In the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) play the “desolate” place has been perceived as dark alley ways, with only match light to see the witches. The darkness makes the audience even more scared of the witches as they cannot be see clearly. When the witches speak, the words are rushed out and they speak as though they are in a trance: This plays on the audience’s views of witches as they are believed to be involved in the supernatural. In the Roman Polenski version of the play the “desolate” place is a beach and the witches bury a hand in the sand, this also plays on the audiences’ perception of witches, as they are supposed to deal with Hell and be involved with death.
Act 1 Scene 3 introduces Macbeth and Banquo to the audience, although they have been mentioned, the actual characters have not bee seen yet. This is also the first time that Macbeth and Banquo have met the witches.
Macbeth’s first words are “so foul and fair”: these words echo the witches’ last line in Act 1 Scene 1. This would have made the audience wonder why Macbeth has used these words and whether it is coincidence or not. The description of the witches would have made the audience feel uncomfortable as they had “beards”, “choppy” fingers and they did not look like “th’inhabitants o’th’earth.” These were typical descriptions of witches and if, after the play, the audience saw a woman with a beard they would begin to wonder. The witches call Macbeth “Thane of Glamis”, which he is, they call him “Thane of Cawdor” which he does not know he is, but later on in the scene he becomes Thane of Cawdor and they also say “shalt be king”. This implies that the witches can see into the future and that Macbeth will become king. They speak to Banquo in riddles “Not so happy, yet much happier” and they also tell him “shalt get kings” this means his sons will become kings, if it is true. Macbeth believes what the witches say and this part of the play will affect what Macbeth does later on. The witches vanish at the end of their part; this adds more mystery to them. At the end of the scene the audience is left wondering how and why the witches vanished and whether Macbeth will become king.
In the RSC version of the play the witches run away from Macbeth when they vanish, this maybe an easy way of getting the witches to vanish or the witches could have been perceived to be scared of Macbeth. Macbeth and Banquo both laugh about what the witches say, showing that they do not take it seriously. In the Roman Polenski play the witches go underground when they vanish but Macbeth says that he does not know where they are, this maybe because he wants to see the witches later, in secret. Macbeth takes what the witches say seriously but Banquo laughs. Macbeth believes he can be king.
Act 4 Scene 1 is the only scene that actually shows witchcraft, this will prove the suspicions that the audience has had throughout the play, these women are in fact witches. This scene also shows how much confidence Macbeth gets from the apparitions.
At the beginning of this scene the witches are making a “hell broth” this contains ingredients such as “finger of birth-strangled babe” and “root of Hemlock”. The ingredients of this broth are so disgusting the audience would be retching in their seats. The witches would be chanting these ingredients which would add to the fear. After they have made their “hell broth” they say “something wicked this way comes”, they are talking about Macbeth, implying he is wickeder that they. The witches conjure up three apparitions to shoe Macbeth his fate. This would have shocked the audience because they will be able to see witchcraft happening. The first apparition says “beware Macduff” the second says “none of woman born shall harm Macbeth” making Macbeth confident he will not be slain. The third says “Macbeth…never vanquished till great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill…come” this increases Macbeth’s confidence as he believes a wood cannot move. The apparitions are said to be higher than the witches, this would heighten the audience’s fear as there is a force more evil than witches. By the end of the play the apparition’s words are shown to be ambiguous, this shows how truly evil they are.
In conclusion, Shakespeare knew his audience well, he knew that, at the time, people were scared of witches, he knew what peoples different perceptions of witches were and played on them. He used many techniques to promote fear and mystery, for example, he made the witches vanish and speak in rhyme and riddles. In the modern film versions, minor things like, setting, clothes, number of witches and the appearance of the witches have been changed to affect different audiences but the plot and words have not been changed, this shows the play still scares people after four hundred years.
