When we meet the three witches again, they await Macbeth and Banquo returning from the battle. They inform Macbeth that he will become thane of Cawdor “all hail Macbeth! Hail to thee”; king of Scotland “all hail Macbeth! That shalt be king here after”. Going back to the destiny idea the audience know he will be become king yet they are not told how. Moreover they can see the start of Macbeth’s traitorous side when he says to the witches “stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more”. From this point the witches have embedded the inspiration of becoming King in his head by making him ask for more. From the audience point of view the inspiration is disastrous.
People’s views and beliefs on witches in Elizabethan times were very widespread. Practice of witchcraft became punishable by death. James 1st would have enjoyed the play “Macbeth” because of Macbeth’s decline when listening to the witches.
Macbeth’s first words are similar to what the witches say, “so foul is fair a day I have not seen”. This suggests that they are in tune with each other. When the witches appear on the Heath, they say that Macbeth will become king. Banquo thinks that the witches are lying “What! Can the devil speak truth?” however, Macbeth wants to know more of this, “strange intelligence”. Macbeth wants to hear more because it is his ambition to become king. From the two different reactions the audience can see that Macbeth is more anxious to discover the truth, whereas Banquo warns Macbeth of the witches “instruments of darkness”. These are prophetic words.
Macbeth’s soliloquy begins on “ two truths are told” which shows that the witches’ predictions have come true. Macbeth then thinks that he will become king, as they were correct up to that point. But unknowingly he then thinks of murder to speed up the process and enable a long reign. He says, “horrid image doth unfix my hair, and make my seated heart knock at my ribs against the use of nature?” This shows that he is unsettled about what he is thinking and begins to back away from the idea of killing his beloved king. To the audience this would show that he has no real will to carry on with his scheme of murder and also shows his passion for his country and king.
From the audience’s view they can see that Macbeth is beginning to change because of the witches input. They can see that he has no ambition to kill the king, but has an unnatural thought that makes him want to proceed his life.
Another aspect to Macbeth’s persuasion is his wife Lady Macbeth. His wife lady Macbeth receives a letter from him, which tells her about his confrontation with the witches. She quickly assumes that they will become monarchs. This gives the audience an insight to what she is thinking. They can see that she is very power hungry and that she would do anything to become queen. This then evolves into the idea of murdering the king. The audience then experiences that they want to speed up the process. “Thou must do, if thou have it”. This is a effective line saying if you want to be king you must become king. This gives more characteristics of how evil Lady Macbeth actually is. The audience can also picture that the evil in her would try anything to break Macbeth into a murderer.
Lady Macbeth says that he is too “full o’milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way.” This makes it clear that she also knows that Macbeth would never commit such crime just to become king faster. When the messenger enters he says, “the king comes tonight”, the audience then sees Lady Macbeth’s shock as she thinks Macbeth has committed the murder. When she realises that the messenger was trying to say Duncan, she states “the raven himself is hoarse” meaning she must take action. The scream or a raven was used to symbolise that a murder had happened. If the audience heard the sound they would know that the murder occurred. This was useful, as they didn’t need to see the murder being committed. Lady Macbeth shows more of her evil side to the audience by asking evil spirits to take over her body, “unsex me her, and fill me, from the crown of toe, top-full of direst cruelty… to cry ” hold, hold” “. Lady Macbeth shows that if she were a man then she would commit the crime, but I think that she uses this line to make it seem as if she was willing to kill if she were a man although she is a woman. The audience can see that the desire to kill the king comes from Lady Macbeth after the initial concept from the witches. The witches therefore trigger off Lady Macbeth’s desire rather than it being only Lady Macbeth’s scheme.
When Macbeth arrives she tells him to like” an innocent flower but be the serpent under’t”. This would amuse the audience as at that time there was a coin with a flower on one side and a serpent on the other, as a symbol of the gun powder plot. Lady Macbeth uses powerful and strong arguments to persuade Macbeth to kill the king. This makes it clear to the audience that she want to be extremely powerful.
Macbeth has another soliloquy at the beginning of act 1 scene 7 in which he states how it would be a horror if he were to kill the king, let alone thinking about it. He ponders on whether to do it “quickly: if the assassination would trammel up the consequence, and catch with his surcease success.” This shows the audience the true matter of what he is thinking. Most or all the soliloquy says that he will become a traitor if he killed the king. This brings us back to Macbeth’s patriotic side. He says,“ That but this blow might be the be-all and the end-all,” in other words, if he fails they will be dead.
Lady Macbeth is different from Macbeth as he thinks more of the consequences of his actions than she does, as she is power-driven. He then says towards the end if he were to kill the king it would be like “ vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself and falls on the other.” This means that if he kills the king, the consequences could be worse or just as bad. From this point the audience can see Macbeth knows that it could go wrong and that his king is very important in his life. “ Will plead like angels trumpet tongued, against the deep damnation of his taking off,” makes Duncan a godly character because Macbeth uses angels as a metaphor for knights. This would shock the audience, as killing the king would be like killing god. If he were to kill the king he would go straight to hell, which is supported by damnation.
This soliloquy is very important in the play as this brings out the true Macbeth. To the audience, this tells them that there is a good side to him and that he can not murder the king alone, and that there is another influence other that the witches that do so. This could only be his wife.
Lady Macbeth persuades her husband by using blackmail and insults. She calls him a coward as an insult. This is humorous as Macbeth is used to killing people in battle although he cannot kill the king. This suggests that he is weak, but the audience knows him for being a warrior that is bloodthirsty and over charged.
“ I have given suck, and know how tender’t is to love the babe that milks me: I would while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his bone less gums, and dash the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done this.”
This is very emotional and is very depressing for the two characters. The quote suggests that they may have already had a child that died. She uses this line as she knows that its Macbeth's weak spot. This can be interpreted as, if Macbeth does not kill the king then she will kill their baby if they were to have one later on. The audience would be stunned at the fact a mother could kill her own child in order for her to gain the throne. Macbeth, left with no option, changes his mind and decides to go ahead with the plans to kill the king. He is worried in case they are caught. He asks her “if we shall fail?” she replies “ we, fail?” showing that she is confident that they would succeed their task.
In addition, the dagger Macbeth stumbles across later on is a figment of his imagination. This dagger tempts him to question his own judgement and to kill the king. He states “let me clutch thee” giving the impression, that he needs to use that dagger to murder the king. Moreover, he says “proceeding from the heat oppressed brain.” Giving the audience the impression that he has gone insane with the thought of murdering the king. It shows a burning desire that Macbeth feels and also the fires of hell. This influences him to go ahead with the original task of murdering Duncan. However, Lady Macbeth begins to hear voices in her mind and worries about the murder. Once the murder was committed, she says “ I heard an owl scream”, the owl was another bird associated with the murder, just like the raven.
Before the murder, the audience is aware of the dagger; however, they do not see Macbeth use it. The peace is disturbed by the sounds of the owl and raven after the murder. The murder is, as it were sandwiched between violent and emotional experiences as the audience is meant to feel the murder occur. Macbeth committed a terrible crime by killing the king and Lady Macbeth was guilty of influencing him. The fact that such a great warrior like Macbeth is so lost in guilt shows the full extent of the evil he has committed. Macbeth is so guilty that he can not even say “amen”. This guiltiness and the fact that even “ the ocean can not clean him” suggest a total state or damnation. From such quotes as “we have scotched the snake, not killed it: she’ll close and be herself” the audience is able to see that Macbeth has to carry on killing to make sure of his position.
After this the porter scene occurs. This gives enough time for the actors to get changed and to also clean themselves. The imagery of clothing “borrowed robes” and “strange garments” begin to develop. This creates an image of disguise: Macbeth, as it were, hides behinds his clothes. Even though Banquo was present throughout the witches’ prediction he could be tempted to kill the king or plot against him, but he doesn’t. This shows that Macbeth’s grief and ambition to become king is inspiring him compared to Banquo carrying on with his normal life.
In conclusion the witches and Lady Macbeth are the 2 main influences on Macbeth at the start of the play which persuades him to kill the king.
The witches are influential as they use prophecies to make Macbeth want more. They seem strange to him and also intriguing which makes him want more. He wonders after the first two prophecies come true whether it is luck but immediately knows that the witches are telling the truth, therefore he will become king. The witches tell him that he will become king so Macbeth decides to kill the king in order to speed up the process.
His wife is the other main factor, although after receiving the letter from Macbeth about the witches she wants Macbeth to kill the king for her own desires. She uses lots of emotive language as well as blackmail in order to quicken the process, as she knows that they will become monarchs sooner or later.
Overall the witches have an impact on Lady Macbeth as they cause her to try and persuade her husband to assassinate the king and therefore be sentenced to a life of misery and damnation.
