In the opening scene of “Macbeth” there are 13 lines, This is significant as 13 is considered unlucky. When this play was being performed people would associate this with evil whereas people nowadays people would not notice except for if they were studying the book.
The witches speak one after each other. They speak in short rhyming verse which imitates the casting of a spell. The witches talk of chaotic weather. This is a prophetic fallacy as it gives us an idea that something bad or evil is going to happen also it shows us that the witches can change the weather.
The witches can predict the future which suggests that they are very powerful in many ways and that they just happen to meet Macbeth whilst he is returning from battle.
The witches use contradictory statements or paradoxes. In this scene for example they all chant “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”. Also Macbeth says later on in the book “So foul and fair a day I have not seen” this shows us that the witches already have a controlling power over Macbeth.
In Act 1 Scene 3 Macbeth and Banquo’s reaction to the witches
Macbeth- when we first meet Macbeth he says “so foul and fair a day” also the witches say “fair is foul, and foul is fair” this could suggest that the witches already have some sort of power over Macbeth before they have even met. Macbeth does not speak a lot possibly because he is scared or does not trust the witches to talk to them. Macbeth seems bewildered when the witches tell him that he will be king. After finding this out he is inquisitive and tells the witches to stay and answer his questions.
Banquo- When Banquo meets the three witches he is very self inquisitive, wanting to know about his future. He is also quite curious to know what the weird sisters are and what they can do. Banquo when he meets the sisters questions their appearances questioning whether they are men or women he says “Upon her skinny lips: you should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so.”
The witches meet Hecate in Act 3 Scene five. This scene is believed to be a later addition to the play because the rhyming schemes are different to other scenes involving the witches.
The Elizabethan audience knew Hecate was the goddess of witchcraft and her presence would have created the desired effect of disturbing and unnerving the audience.
Hecate is angry with the witches for dealing with Macbeth as he is not committed to witchcraft.
The only other significant reference scene is to the pit of Acheron their cavern (a river in Hell)Hecate tells them to go and prepare the spell for Macbeth’s arrival. Some modern productions omit this scene. Again much of the significance would be lost on the modern audience.
Macbeth- Act 4 Scene 1
This scene takes place in a cave, around a boiling cauldron. That's reasonable, even though Shakespeare didn't write any such stage direction. A cave is a dark place that could remind us of hell, and the Witches certainly intend to summon up the powers of hell. As for the cauldron, the Witches chant of making a sickening stew in a cauldron, and it would seem right for the Witches' apparitions to rise like steam out of that stew.
After this, the stew gets ever fouler as human parts start to go into the pot, the last one being, "Finger of birth-strangled babe. A "drab" is a prostitute, and in the real world of Shakespeare's time it did happen that prostitutes, with no money, no family, and no friends, delivered their babies in hiding, then killed and disposed of them. Macbeth is considered wicked.
Macbeth when he talks to the witches demands answers of them this shows that he is not scared and he believes that he is invincible. The apparitions are; an armed head, bloody child and a crowned child with a tree in its hand.
Macbeth reacts to these very strangely he reacts in confidence that no one can beat him but he is worried that he is the last in his family to be king.
Once again the scene is set in thunder this sets the mood and shows us that the witches can change the weather and that something evil and bad is going to appear or happen. When the witches chant their very famous incantation they repeat the words double which in Shakespeare’s time it meant deceptive. Act 4 scene 1 is said to be not written by Shakespeare at all.
Although the witches only appear in 3 scenes (4 if you count Act 3 Scene 5) their dramatic influence can be felt through out the play. This emphasises their function and importance.
For example the witches have a major influence over Lady Macbeth as it says in Act 1 Scene 5 “Great Glamis! Worthy Cawdor! Greater than both, by the all-hail hereafter!” This is similar to the way that the three witches great Macbeth and this shows us that the three witches have a certain amount of influence or control over her. Also Lady Macbeth says “unsex me here, and fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood;” this significant as Lady Macbeth is asking spirits to take away here femininity and Banquo says in Act 1 scene 3 This shows that Banquo can not tell that the three witches are women yet they should be and Lady Macbeth is asking to be almost similar to the witches!
Lady Macbeth Sleepwalks in Act 1 Scene 5 as she is trying to wash a spot of blood from her hands that only she can see this was considered in Shakespeare’s time to be the mark of the devil which the witches would be strongly linked to having. Sleep is a recurring theme in Macbeth as the witches use it against certain victims.
