In Macbeth, there are three witches. This is significant as witches were believed to do things in threes “Thrice to thine and thrice to mine and thrice again to make up nine.” and the three apparitions. We see the witches for the first time in the opening scene. They talk about when and where they shall meet him. “When the hurlyburly’s done. When the battles lost and won.” and “upon the heath.” They also say “That will be ere the set of sun” and There to meet with Macbeth.” This shows us both that they know when the battle will be over and where Macbeth will be. Predicting the future was one of the powers witches were supposed to have and as there is no mention of these women being witches, it is a clue to what they are. We get another clue to their powers by the way they talk. They speak in rhyme throughout the play and will sometimes finish each others sentences. This suggests they have a physic link with each other. They also mention Macbeth. This suggests he will be the focus of their attention in the play
Act 1 scene 3 is the next scene with the witches and we can clearly see what people thought about witches and their personality in one short passage. When the witches first meet in the play they talk about what they have done since they last met. Shakespeare uses this opportunity to outline the witches’ personality. Witch two tells how she has spent her time killing swine, young pigs, which was a very common past-time for the public’s image of a witch. This shows the destructive side of the witch and in the play they cause a huge amount of destruction. Witch one also tells of what she has been doing. She firstly tells of how she demands that a woman eating chestnuts gives her some. “Give me, quoth I”. This shows the witches rudeness and gives the impression that the witches have been cast out by society long ago. As though they have forgotten manners long ago. It also shows how presumptuous the witches can be. Upon refusal of her demand she immediately takes offense at the least little jibe, “Aroint thee witch”, and is hell bent on mischief. ” “I’ll do, I’ll do and I’ll do.” This might suggest a vengeful side to the witches but in my opinion she does not cause mischief to gain revenge on the Sailor’s wife. She does it because she enjoys chaos and destruction and even likes to torment innocent people. This clearly shows what people of the time and Shakespeare thought of witches.
When the witches meet Macbeth they tell him three things “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!” “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee thane of Cawdor!” and “All hail, Macbeth –that shalt be king hereafter!” Then when Banquo asks that he be given a prophesy also the witches reply “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.” This means Banquo will not be king but one of his sons will be. These prophesys are the most important lines in the whole play. They stimulate Macbeths mind to hink more of his latent ambition. This starts a chain of events leading to the eventual murder of Duncan. We can see that the prophesies have affected Macbeth by his reaction. “Stay, you imperfect speakers” and “Would they had stayed”. These two lines show Macbeth likes what he has heard. He wants the witches to elaborate suggesting he wants to be king. In stark contrast however, we can see Banquo is suspicious of the witches prophesy to Macbeth “to win us to our harm”. We can also see he suspects the witches true identity “Can the devil speak true.” The witches are servants of the devil so he was probably referring to the witches. This means he would have believed that the prophesy that Macbeth would be king, could come true as he would have known that witches could tell the future. He also knew his friend Macbeth to be highly ambitious and knowing this he might assume Macbeth to strive toward being a king. However, he also knew that if Macbeth did become king Macbeth would want his own son to be king instead of how the witches’ prophesized that Banquos son would become king. This would lead Macbeth to murderous intention toward Banquo and his sons. This might have been in his mind as he attempted to persuade Macbeth to think nothing of the predictions. Here we can already see the witches influence in potentially breaking up a close friendship which is what they would have wanted. We then get a confirmation of Macbeths ambitions in his soliloquy soon after “If chance will have me king, why, why chance may crown me.” While this shows he does want to be king it also shows he is not yet committed enough to actively increase his chances of being a king.
Throughout the scene many references are made between Macbeth and the witches. Macbeth echoes the witches line that “Foul is fair and fair is foul” when saying “So foul and fair a day I have not seen.” We also get the very supernatural image of Macbeth in his soliloquy “Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair and make my seated heart knock at my ribs.” Also Macbeth talks much like the witches. His sentences sometimes rhyme and he has a very similar rhythm to the witches’ speech. This suggests that either Macbeth is under the influence of the witches by some spell or witchcraft or that he is so affected by the predictions his nature becomes disfigured and he becomes more like the witches. Either way, the supernatural has affected him strongly and like Macbeth the whole story is strongly affected by the supernatural.
Macbeth would have first been performed in the Globe theatre in London. This outdoor theatre could have lent itself to Macbeth as it is quite a dark play and in scenes involving the witches the stormy English weather would have been highly appropriate. Audiences would have seen ugly men dressed as witches who would have been scary and very atmospheric. However, Macbeth is now viewed mostly through film such as Polanski’s version or Penny Woolcock’s Macbeth on the estate. In some like Polanski’s the witches are dressed as stereotypical witches, in this case a family of women. However, in some like Penny Woolcock’s Macbeth on the estate the witches are cast very differently. In this version the witches are three young children. This plays on the watchers view of a child’s innocence and virtue and sends a chilling message to its viewers. The modern audiences change in belief has had a major effect on their opinions of the play. People are no longer scared of stereotypical witches as we no longer believe them to exist so modern version use modern solutions to this problem.
The power of this play has not lessened through the years but it has changed. In 17th century England the play would have been poignant as it shows the king being murdered which would have been much more important to an audience then as they believed kings to be almost god like. They would also have been hugely affected by the use of witches in the play as witches were hated so much. In modern times the play is poignant for different reasons. We can ask many questions such as who was to blame for Duncan’s murder; Macbeth, Lady Macbeth or the witches. We are also hugely affected by Macbeth’s metamorphosis throughout the play. We see a honest man turn into a cold blooded murderer which is still a strong issue for us.
