The witches also talk in a trochaic tetrameter which gives all of their speech a very spell-like sound, telling the audience that they are very used to casting spells, and therefore performing evil. This is also very different to the iambic pentameter in which Macbeth writes the rest of the play and this sets the witches apart from the other characters, making them seem even more unnatural
The mention of Macbeth by these witches in this first scene inexorably links him with them and, therefore, links him with the supernatural and evil that Shakespeare shrouds these characters in. For example “There to meet with Macbeth” the word meet implies that Macbeth will willingly mix with these evil people.
Shakespeare also adds small details such as mentions of familiars. For example: “I come, Graymalkin”. This makes the witches seem even more real to a 1605 audience who would actually believe in the existence of
witches.
In act 3 scene 4 Macbeth is told that his friend, Banquo, has been murdered on his orders. He is told this as he is holding a banquet and therefore must try and disguise his guilt. However about a quarter of the way through the scene the ghost of Banquo appears. Shakespeare uses this to shock the audience with the goriness of the ghost and, from this, the evil that Macbeth has committed in having such a loyal friend murdered. No explicit description of the ghost is used by Shakespeare; however Macbeth does make reference to his view of the ghost. For example: “but now they rise again with twenty mortal murders on their crown”, “never shake your gory locks at me”. These refer, respectively, to Banquo’s ghost having twenty killing cuts on his head, and his hair being covered in blood. These paint a very shocking picture and greatly increase the audience’s feeling that Macbeth is evil to have done this to his friend.
The fact that a ghost appears at all is very supernatural and perhaps that a ghost has appeared at all shows that it must have been a brutal, spiteful meaningless death for Banquo. However it may be that Shakespeare has added this ghost as a manifestation of Macbeth’s guilt over the death of Banquo. This can be seen by the way that every time Macbeth challenges the ghost it disappears. For example: “Hence, horrible shadow! Unreal mockery, hence!”. Also it seems that Macbeth is the only person who can see the ghost an this either confirms his insanity, or it could cause the audience to think that it really is a ghost as it is invisible to all but it’s victim. For example: “What sights my lord?” This again is highly supernatural as ghosts are supposed to be able to make themselves invisible. However it may also be that the fact that only Macbeth can see it is due to the fact that he has been driven insane by the amount of evil that he has done. This makes him seem even more dangerous as an insane evil villain is much worse than any old evil villain.
In act 4 scene 1 Macbeth meets with the witches again. They cast a spell and from this Macbeth receives three prophecies. The witches make a potion to cast the spell and they chant a spell including all of the ingredients while doing this. The ingredients that they mention are all either procured evilly or they have evil connotations. For example: “finger of birth-strangled babe ditch deliver’d by a drab”, “Adder’s fork”. These are a finger of a prostitute’s baby strangled at birth and a snake’s tongue. The first is purely disgusting and, to have acquired this, the witches must have been involved in killing a baby at birth. Killing a pure child would be seen as one of the most evil acts possible by a Christian 1605 audience. The second has connotations with the biblical creation story and how the snake caused evil to enter into the world and the Christian audience would see this as especially evil, more than just disgusting, because they would believe that the snake hada big role in convincing Eve to cause evil.
As part of this spell Macbeth is faced with three apparitions that have messages for him. These all have gruesome descriptions, for example the second apparition is described as “a bloody child” again this shows how evil the witches are, that they would summon a child from the dead, or at least giving that apparition this shape, shows that this is a very normal thing for them. That they can and do summon apparitions like this shows how unnatural and evil they really are. Again Shakespeare is trying to shock his audience with such a gruesome portrayal of evil. Again the witches’ speech is in trochaic tetrameter, to make the spell sound even more earthy.
After he receives his warning from the first apparition, Macbeth thanks the apparition: "for thy good caution, thanks”. This shows that Macbeth considers the apparition, and therefore the witches, deserving of thanks which implies that he sees them as equals or that he is “in league” with them. This makes him look even more evil to the audience because he knows that the witches are evil but he still accepts their help.
I think that Shakespeare presents the evil and supernatural in Macbeth very effectively because he would definitely shock a 1605 audience and I am sure that a modern audience would be affected similarly. Shakespeare achieves this by a combination of shocking imagery and images combined with an underlying theme of darkness and evil throughout the play. I have seen two version of Macbeth (a staged version directed by Trevor Nunn, and a film version directed by Roman Polanski), both very different in how they are performed, but both of them show how well Shakespeare has shown the evil and supernatural in the written form of Macbeth, and how this works as a good base for performances however it is interpreted. For example: Nun chose not to have Banquo’s ghost appear physically. This means that Macbeth looks even more insane, as if there really is nothing there. It also allows you to look from the good lords’ perspective, potentially seeing how evil he really is. On the other hand Polanski chose to have a very gory ghost present and, although he did not achieve the same things as Nun, he manages to shock the audience to a much greater extent with imagery and, combined with music, this was as effective as Nun’s. In conclusion, I think that Shakespeare presents evil and the supernatural extremely well in Macbeth, while still leaving the play flexible for film and play directors to improve upon in their own way.
