When the second witch speaks she says, “When the hurly burly’s done. When the battle’s lost and won” This sends a sense of confusion throughout the audience because they are speaking in equivocal language. The word “hurly burly” means confusion of the battle and storm; this causes the audience to think, “What is she talking about” What storm? The third witch then says, “That will be ere the set of sun”. This means the battle will be before the set of sun. The phrase “before the set of sun” is like a supernatural phrase because it is just before it becomes dark and all the ‘evil’ is lurking out in the dark. Shakespeare’s use of the phrase foul is fair and fair is foul is very confusing and creates a very negative effect towards the witches. Shakespeare is telling us what is normal to us is would be abnormal to the witches and vice versa. There is a very eerie atmosphere created when Shakespeare said “Hover through the fog and filthy air” This creates tension in the play and tells us that the witches have supernatural powers. When Shakespeare talks about the “fog and filthy air” The audience’s attention is suddenly captured. There is a use of pathetic fallacy here and shows us how the negative weather is associated with the witches. As the word ‘hover’ is used we begin to think how evil the witches really are. This suggests that the witches are lurking with intention of pondering on a prey. Shakespeare has given the witches a certain speech pattern. This is called a trochaic meter. It has 8 syllables in a line and it’s spoken quicker than regular speech patterns. The pattern in the trochaic meter is, one stressed syllable followed by another unstressed syllable. This pattern of speech creates a chant like rhythm. The first word of every sentence is stressed this makes what they sound more intimidating. This contributes to their horrible personalities. All the other characters use iambic pentameter, where the first syllable is unstressed, followed by a stressed syllable. The second and every alternative syllable is stressed. This iambic pentameter and blank verse is closet to every-day natural speech.
The witches use rhyming couplets to add to their chant-like speech pattern. “Weary sev’n n-nights nine times nine, Shall he dwindle, peak and pine”. The witches use antithesis in their speech. The speak in riddles and rhymes to confuse Macbeth and the audience. “ Fair is foul and foul is fair”. This is an example of one of the witches’ use of antithesis and the effect of this to confuse Macbeth. This also makes the witch seem more untrustworthy. Shakespeare’s use of onomatopoeia shows that the witches are different and that they will say things that will stay in the audiences minds. “Rump fed Ronyon” for example. With its emphasis and use of alliteration on the letter “R” helps the phrase ‘stick’ in the audience’s minds.
The audience would appreciate the incantatory speech that the witches use as they believed that witches were characters who were unnatural. An example of this is “when shall we three meet again, in thunder, lighting or in rain”. In Macbeth the witches spoke using equivocation language and this makes them un-trustworthy characters, and because of this the audience did not like them. The witches used half-truths when talking to Macbeth, these include ‘None of the women born shall harm Macbeth’. This phrase lets Macbeth think that no man can kill him because he did not consider birth via caesarean. Shakespeare’s use of assonance in the play which like alliteration, draws the audience’s attention. “But in a sieve I’ll thither sail” and “Hurly burly”. These are two examples of assonance used in the play and they show the repetition of the sound in the witch’s speech. This creates a very creepy atmosphere and creates tension within the audience.
Shakespeare’s use of pathetic fallacy creates tension within the audience and again he is associating the witches with bad weather. The witches enter in “Thunder, lightning or in rain”. This tells us that they are evil. They open the stage with this evil sense and the audience enjoy this as they believe the witches can control the weather, we learn this from the phrases “I’ll give thee a wind” and “I myself have all the other, and the very ports they blow”. Shakespeare’s use of the phrase “though his bark cannot be lost, yet it shall be tempest-tost” shows us that the witches do not have the power to kill a man or control his mind but they can tamper with and change his surroundings. The phrase “Hover through the fog and filthy air” shows the audience that the witches’ possess supernatural powers because they have the ability to fly. In the phrase “Fog and filthy air”. Shakespeare uses a fricative on the letter ‘F’ which makes the witches’ speech sound like it’s been spat out which makes the witches sound more intimidating and gives us the impression that they are malevolent.
“Lesser than Macbeth and greater, not so happy yet much happier” this is the witches speaking and using paradox and equivocation. This adds to the mystery and confusion within the audience. It leaves the audience wondering how someone could be unhappy whilst being happy at the same time.
Macbeth does not trust the witches when he first meets them, but as the first prophecy comes true and the second one will also come true, he is quickly lulled into a false sense of security. The audience believe that Macbeth is a fool to fall into the witches trap because, they could have already known that he was the Thane of Glamis it had previously been announced that he would be Thane of Cawdor but no one knew he would become King.
Banquo did not like the witches. He described them as “instruments of darkness” which lead me to believe that he did not trust them. We are told that the witches have beards and look unnatural and repulsive. The other characters describe the witches as “filthy hags”, “secret black” and “midnight hags”. All these images conjure a repulsive image in the audiences minds. Macbeth uses the simile “As breath into the wind” to give a mystical feel, it gives the audience a view of the witches of super natural power. Shakespeare’s uses dramatic irony to make Macbeth think that the witches have prophetic powers. They already know that the king has sent messengers to Macbeth to tell him of the news. However, the witches are the first to tell Macbeth of his new title. I feel that the witches are only partly to blame for Macbeth’s actions; they are merely a human catalyst. At the beginning of the play Macbeth is loyal, committed and honourable, but as the temptation of power was laid in front of him, he soon changed. Macbeth did not need to listen to the witches; he could have ignored them as Banquo did, like Banquo, Macbeth had the power to turn away but choose not to. I feel that Lady Macbeth was a dark character in the play that persuaded Macbeth to kill the king. Just before killing Duncan, Macbeth was losing courage and decided not to do it, but Lady Macbeth taunts him calling him a coward, saying that he’s not a man if he does not follow through with his plan. In the end, Lady Macbeth finishes the job by planting the daggers on the guards, Lady Macbeth made Macbeth do the dirty work and she just finished it off.
I feel that it is Macbeth’s own ambition that causes his down fall because he gives in to the temptation too quickly. I feel that Shakespeare presented the witches very effectively as they give the play a mysterious and secretive feel. In some productions of the Macbeth play, the director choose to have the witches omnipresent because it shows that Macbeth is constantly under the charm of the witches and they are always looking over him, observing his every action. This reinforces to the audience that the temptation of wrong doing is always nearby, but we can reject or give in to it.
In the 21st century we don’t have such a strong belief in supernatural powers, but instead we are afraid of humans, every day people that are armed with dangerous weapons that could hurt or endanger our families and are lead down the path of evil and temptation just like Macbeth was, but could the witches represent the potential for evil that is within humans.
