The witch’s language includes rhyming couplets that contradict each other and are very powerful.
‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air’
This quote tells us about the witch’s hatred for all things good, and their love for things that are evil. Shakespeare adds rhyme and rhythm to the witch’s language to emphasise their evilness. Alliteration on the F result in the verse having a negative feel. The second part of this quote adds to their image of being witches, and would of created tension among Elizabethan audiences, for instance the word ‘Hover’ the image of old women with cats and the ability to fly would of shocked an audience.
In act 1 scene 3 there is a story of a sailor and his wife, where one of the witches describes how she will punish a sailor because his wife would not share her chestnuts she was eating. The witch is not powerful enough to sink the ship, but she makes sure it is tossed around in stormy seas making sure it has trouble getting safely in to port. The witch says she will ‘drain him dry as hay’ this will be because he wont be able to get to port to take on water, so he will dehydrate and he will not be able to ‘sleep neither night nor day’ the witches curse him. The story of the sailor and his wife is significant to the fact that the witch’s are evil.
Later on in the same scene it’s the first time we see Macbeth and Banquo. Macbeth enters to the sound of a beating drum and says he has never seen ‘so foul and fair a day’ this means the battle has been foul but the victory has been fair. These words echo those of the witch’s ‘fair is foul, and foul is fair’ there could be many interpretations for this, maybe the witch’s knew Macbeth would say these words and were mocking him, in this case it could be reinforcing there supernatural powers, or perhaps the witches have some kind of control over him. If this were true then it would suggest that the witch’s were a source of evil in the play as they had Macbeth under some kind of spell. Either way the witch’s powers are being emphasized.
In this scene Banquo notices the witches. He is curious of them. He is puzzled and asks them questions mainly about their appearance and gender. ‘that look not like the inhabitants o’ the earth’ Banquo refers to the witches as being unnatural and unearthly. Shakespeare uses the appearance of the witches to reinforce their importance in the play as evil monstrous old hags.
‘her choppy finger laying upon her skinny lips: you should be women but your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so’ The witches image is almost stereotypical of the time, they look like they are portrayed to be in the horror of peoples minds. The witches are dark creatures and in this play dark symbolizes evil and is related to the witches often.
The witches and their prophecies are the first major influence on Macbeth’s actions. Macbeth, Thane of Glamis is content with his position, until the three witches tell him, ‘hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor, thou shalt be King hereafter’. After hearing this, Macbeth and Banquo his loyal friend, find out that king Duncan has named Macbeth ‘Thane of Cawdor.’ They contemplate about how the rest of the prophecy will come true. The Witches also advise them that Banquo’s son would be king one day.
Banquo says to the witches whilst turning to Macbeth ‘he seems rapt’ to an Elizabethan audience they might have interpreted this as meaning Macbeth was under a spell! If this were the case than Macbeth wouldn’t be responsible for his action of murder and his own downfall. If this were true than the witches would be considered a greater source of evil as they placed Macbeth under a spell and were responsible for his actions. This idea and use of language (rapt) conveys the fact that the witches have a great power over Macbeth’s mind and have a strong influence over him and his desire to become king.
In act 3 scene 1 Macbeth arranges the death of Banquo. An act of murder that Macbeth ordered without the influence of his wife, in an attempt to overrule the prophecies of the witches that Banquo’s children will become king. By now the Witches have a strong effect on Macbeth as he believes in their prophecies. The fact that Macbeth committed this deed without the influence of his wife conveys the fact they have played with his mind and when he purses evil again by visiting them for further information, the witches put the picture in to his mind that he is invincible ‘be bloody, be bold and resolute: laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of women born shall harm Macbeth’. The witches language and manipulative words lead him to believe no mortal can harm him, therefore he is safe from all, they encourage him to be bold and brave.
Some people would say Macbeth is naturally evil but I would say that it is the witches who have the power to set him on his bloody course, laying about his downfall by manipulating his weakness. His secret ambition to become king! I would come to this conclusion on the way Shakespeare portrays the witches as this figure of evil by using unnatural images and powerful language.
Throughout this play the audience cannot help noticing that women are main sources of violence and evil as well as men. It is not only the prophecies of the witches that spark Macbeth’s ambitions and encourage his violent behaviour. It is Lady Macbeth who provides the brains and will behind her husbands evil plotting. In Shakespearean times women were more likely to be expected to be ‘seen and not heard’ their traditional roles would be housekeeping and childbearing. Women were considered to be second-class citizens throughout. The aggression of Lady Macbeth’s female character is more striking to an audience as it goes against prevailing expectations of how women ought to behave. Lady Macbeth’s behaviour certainly shows that women can be as ambitious and as cruel as men. I would say the story of Macbeth is a bit like the story of the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve live happily in till they are tempted away from goodness. If you see Macbeth as a good man that falls from grace it is tempting to see Lady Macbeth as a traditional vallainess ‘Eve’ to Macbeth’s ‘Adam’. She has a lust for power and it is her goading that leads Macbeth to seize the throne by murdering the king. Because of the constraints of her society the fact that lady Macbeth’s character goes against the traditional structure of the 16th century women she would have been considered evil.
Lady Macbeth fulfils her role among the nobility and is well respected like her husband. The king calls her ‘are honoured hostess’ She is loving to her husband but at the same time is very ambitious. This is shown by her immediate determination for Macbeth to become king. Lady Macbeth knows this outcome will benefit her as well as her husband and she immediately concludes that the ‘fastest way’ for Macbeth to become king is by murdering the current king Duncan.
Lady Macbeth’s thoughts are what make her appear to the audience as thoroughly irreligiously cold and ambitious, a prevailing symbol of evil. But Lady Macbeth does show some remorse as she calls on evil sprits to ‘stop up th’ access and passage to remorse’ in order to be relentless. Otherwise her conscience would not allow her to act. Furthermore Lady Macbeth knows her husband well and thinks he may be to kind in order to murder the king ‘yet do I fear thy nature: it is to full of the milk of human kindness’. This is the natural quality of behaving like a decent human being. She doubts her husband’s ability to fulfil such a barbarian act such as a cold-blooded killing of the countries king. ‘that I may pour my sprits in thine ear’ this line conveys lady Macbeth is a great source of evil because it expresses the fact that lady Macbeth wants to influence her husband with evil thoughts and argue away everything that stands in the way of the crown.
Lady Macbeth uses language to manipulate her husband into committing the crime by constantly doubting his manhood and his love for her. Lady Macbeth’s language conveys her sense of evilness as again it goes against the stereotypical persona of women. Lady Macbeth uses unnatural images to express her self, ‘unsex me here’ this is an example of an unnatural image, she wants to remove all her feminine qualities so that they don’t intervene with her deadly intentions. ‘take my milk for gall’ this is another unnatural image as this is her nurturing quality that she wants rid off. ‘make thick my blood’ these are not words women would say. ‘come thick night’ this is connected to darkness, an instrument of evil as it is connected to darkness and in this play darkness is a main theme. There is a connection here between the Witches and Lady Macbeth as they are both connected with darkness, which is connected with evil. Lady Macbeth’s unnatural images also connect her to the witches as she to lacks femininity and is connected with the forces of evil sprits. The audience/reader would link this together and conclude that Lady Macbeth is just like the witches a great source of evil.
In act 1 scene 7 lady Macbeth’s strong language and manipulation techniques come in to play more. She uses this language whilst her husband is in doubt ‘was the hope drunk’ Lady Macbeth is suggesting to Macbeth that the reason why he was so optimistic earlier was that he was drunk and now the idea has hit him like hangover. She cleverly questions his love to by saying how she will regard his love for her a drunken lechery to. This would have been powerful to Macbeth, as no man likes to not be taken seriously. ‘Art thou afeard’ Lady Macbeth taunts her husband in to going though with the murder by questioning his manhood is he afraid to match his desires with actions. Lady Macbeth’s use of language is cleverly persuasive and tricks Macbeth into proofing his love for her by doing what she wants from him. Manipulating her man would make Lady Macbeth a source of evil.
Act 1 scene 7 is significant because it conveys Macbeth’s doubt in killing the king and it shows that he is finally persuaded to go ahead by the sheer determination of his wife. She accuses him of being a coward and in her powerful speech explains how far she would be prepared to go to get what she wanted. At this point Lady Macbeth seems to have joined the forces of evil. She uses forceful language and conjures up images of horror. It almost seems as if she has been granted her wish to the evil spirits ‘fill me from the crown to the toe top-full of direst cruelty’. This whole scene conveys the fact Lady Macbeth is an important source of evil in the play and her part in persuading Macbeth to commit the deed was crucial. Her ruthless determination to make Macbeth king has over come all his doubts.
I would say that it is obvious that both Lady Macbeth and the witch’s are shown to be a greater source of evil than Macbeth. I believe that the witch’s played a much bigger part and are more evil than Lady Macbeth. Like Macbeth she is driven by secret ambition, which is opened upon them by the seeds the witch’s sow in Macbeth’s mind. It is the witch’s that make Macbeth believe that he can become king and deceive him in to believing him self invincible. Lady Macbeth isn’t pure evil because later on she exceeds to the stereotype of women as she is over ridden with guilt. It is significant that she starts to fear the dark (evil) and has to sleep with a candle next to her bed. Lady Macbeth is driven to insanity by the guilt she upholds, she resents evil. The candle represents a symbol of a state of innocence and purity. Overall Shakespeare has succeeded in showing women as the greatest source of evil this play is true to the saying ‘behind every great man there’s a even greater women’
By Kelly Loughran
