On the way back from her journey the first witch somehow got pilots thumb:
“Here I have a pilot’s thumb,
Wrecked as homeward he did come.”
I think that the witches will keep this thumb for future use in a spell or potion, I think because later on in the play the witches make a potion which has a lot of weird and wonderful ingredients in it, many like this and worse.
When Macbeth and Banquo come into this scene Macbeth’s first words are:
“So foul and fair a day I have not seen.”
This is as close as you could get to exactly the same as the last words that the witches said in the first scene:
“Fair is foul and foul is fair.”
I think that William Shakespeare would have done this to show the audience that there is some sort of link between the Witches and Macbeth.
When Macbeth meets the witches for the first time they give him three prophecies:
First witch: “All hail Macbeth, hail to thee Thane of Glamis!
Second witch: All hail Macbeth, hail to thee Thane of Cawdor!
Third witch: All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king here-after!”
To each one of these Macbeth reacts differently, for the first one he is not disturbed, but the second one makes his eyes open, and the last even more so. This is because the first he is already entitled as he inherited it from his father, the second he is not entitled to and therefore it is another title for his name and a chance to own yet another part of Scotland, which will not only give him more money but more importantly give him more power and make him more superior. The last, well that just about tops it off, not owning just two parts of Scotland but the whole lot of it. This is Macbeth has wanted for quite a while as we find out in a letter he writes to Lady Macbeth in Act one, scene five:
“Referred me to the coming on of time with
‘Hail King that shalt be!’
This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou mightst not lose the dues of rejoicing by being ignorant of what greatness is promised thee.”
Therefore I think, from this, that Macbeth is pleased to hear these prophecies. Also from this quotation you see the strong bond in Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s relationship.
Macbeth is not the only one to get prophecies; Banquo also does but only one:
Third witch: “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none”
This means that Banquo himself shall not be King but his children will be, he does not show any admiration of concern towards this.
Then along comes Angus and Ross with some very important news for Macbeth:
Ross: “He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor;”
It looks like King Duncan has sent Ross, so it must be too important to wait. It is important, it is giving Macbeth a new title, Than of Cawdor. Macbeth is very pleased about this but in the back of his mind he is thinking about something else, the third prophesy. He’s thinking well if this came true, what about king, there must be something in it! This shows that Macbeth is open minded he allows things to influence him.
Banquo can see Macbeth pondering about this so being a good and worthy friend he decides to warn him against this evil:
“And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles to betray’s
In deepest consequence.”
This is saying that the instruments of darkness, witches, ghouls, ghosts etc., tell us the truth sometimes to win our belief but to betray us at the worst time.
When the battle had finished and Macbeth and Banquo meet back up with King Duncan, Duncan decides to invite himself and the rest of the Nobles and Lords to Macbeth’s castle to stay for the night, notice how he has the power to just invite himself anywhere, (a move that he should not have made!). Macbeth and Lady Macbeth see their chance to ‘provide for’ him and grab it. Immediately Macbeth writes a letter to his wife explaining what the witches said and how the title ‘Thane of Cawdor’ came true, and he also informs her about King Duncan coming to their castle and tells her what plans he has to ‘provide for’ King Duncan.
Macbeth and Lady Macbeth decided that when the time is right to kill, Lady Macbeth would sound the bell very quietly so as not to wake the guests. Meanwhile, while Macbeth is waiting for the bell to ring, he starts hallucinating and sees what he believes to be a dagger:
“Is this a dagger I see before me,”
The dagger at first seems to be pointing its handle towards Macbeth:
“The handle towards my hand?”
Then Macbeth tries to grab the dagger and it is only then that he realises that it is not real:
“Come let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet
I see thee still.”
Then the dagger appears to be pointing towards King Duncan’s bedroom and the blade appears to have blood dripping off it. As you can see Macbeth’s mind is really playing with him:
“And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood,
Which was not so before.”
I think the dagger is meant to symbolise Macbeth’s guilty conscience. As Macbeth is loyal to King Duncan and a good friend of King Duncans it will make it harder for Macbeth to kill him rather than just him killing someone who he doesn’t know. You’ll be thinking ‘well he kills a lot of people on the battle field!’ but when he fights in battle he goes into a ‘berserk’ trance where he doesn’t realise who he’s killing. Also he is going to kill King Duncan with knifes, therefore Macbeth will have to be in very close contact with the King, and Macbeth will have to see the fear and surprise in King Duncan’s eyes. I think William Shakespeare includes this hallucination to prove to the audience that Macbeth actually got feelings and cares a lot about King Duncan, also this shows the power that the witches have over Macbeth.
In the morning Lennox comes to Macbeth’s Castle describing what the night’s weather was like:
“The night has been unruly.”
He says that where they spent the night the chimneys were blown off and strange noises were heard:
“Our chimneys were blown down’”
“Lamentings heard I’ th’ air, strange screams of death,
And prophesying with accents terrible.”
Later Ross talks to an old man who tells him more strange happenings during the night when King Duncan was killed:
“A falcon towering in her pride of place
Was by a mousing owl hawked at, and killed.”
This is saying that a falcon that was climbing in the sky got killed by an owl that hawked at it. This I unnatural as they are two birds of prey attacking each other, when they should normally be attacking small birds, mice and that sort! Also Ross talks about Duncan’s horses, saying that they became wild and broke out of their stalls, ran off and ate each other, even though they had been trained!
I think the reason why William Shakespeare put these happenings in is as follows. In the Jacobean times everyone believed that there was an order to everything (like a food chain-sheep eats grass, humans eat sheep). So when King Duncan was killed that was an order destroyed, the order of power:
“GOD
KING
NOBLES
MERCHANTS
PEASANTS
ANIMALS, BIRDS, ETC.
VEGETABLES.”
Therefore if one chain is broken the rest are, so when the King was killed it has affected the rest of the chains. Another they mention is the cycle of day and night:
“by th’ clock ‘tis day.
And yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp.”
This is saying that by the time it should be day, but it is still dark. This quote strengthens my proposition. Also this quote shows the power the witches have to control the weather and light.
Later in the play, once Macbeth is King, he decides to kill Banquo, this is because Macbeth knows that Banquo is suspicious about the killing of King Duncan because Banquo knows all of the prophecies and thinks it too odd for them to come true:
“Thou hast it now, King, Cawdor, Glamis, all,
As the weird woman promised, and I fear
Thou play’dst most foully for’t;”
So Macbeth decides to kill Banquo because he is afraid that Banquo will tell everyone this, and then what would happen? I think that Macbeth does not do it himself because either he is afraid or because if he goes missing while Banquo is killed everyone will, put two and two together so to say, and suspect him for killing Banquo.
To kill Banquo Macbeth employs three murderers. The three murderers are told, by Macbeth that Banquo and Fleance will be going through a certain part of the wood at a certain time so the murders set off to kill Banquo and Fleance. In the Polanski film version, when the murderers get there they set up a trap, a tree which will fall behind Banquo and Fleance which will block off the path where they had just come from, therefore blocking off their exit. Banquo and Fleance get there and the plan works. Although Fleance gets away, Banquo is killed by and axe to his back. Fleance only gets away due to a life and death situation from Banquo, you see Banquo has a bow and only one arrow, whether to save himself or his son, he goes for his son. Therefore the murderers do not succeed as Fleance gets away, and Macbeth wanted them both killed, if not Fleance more then Banquo.
When the first murderer gets back and reports to Macbeth he says that Banquo was cut at the throat and had 20 gashes to his head and is now lying in a ditch:
“My lord, his throat is cut, that
I did for him.”
“Ay my good lord, safe in a ditch he bides,
With twenty trenched gashes on his head,
The least a death to nature.”
After this Macbeth goes back to the banquet and gets everybody settled down and off with their food. While the guests are starting with their meal Macbeth is wandering around making sure everyone is content, and then one of the lords asks if he wants to sit down:
“May’t please your Highness sit.”
Then one of the nobles asks him sit next to him as it would be a great pleasure:
“Please’t your Highness
To grace us with your royal company.”
But Macbeth sees that the table is full and says so, he doesn’t realise there is actually a space, but the ghost of Banquo sits there. The noble points at this empty space that Macbeth cannot see, it is then that the ghost turns rounds and Macbeth realises. He thinks that someone is playing a joke on him at first but then he realises it is real and upon his face becomes a white overcast of an expression. The Lords and Nobles notice that the King is not well and stand from their seats:
“Gentlemen rise, his Highness is not well.”
Quickly Lady Macbeth improvises and she says he is having a fit, which he has been subject to since he was a child:
“Sit worthy friends. My lord is often this,
And hath been from his youth. Pray you keep seat,
The fit is momentary, upon a thought
He will be well again.”
Lady Macbeth tries to get everything back to normal but still Macbeth continues:
“Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on that
Which might appal the devil.”
This continues for a while longer, meanwhile constantly Lady Macbeth is trying to calm him down. At this point Lady Macbeth realises that Macbeth is not going to get any better so she orders every guest to go:
“At once, good night.
Stand not upon order of your doing
But go at once.”
The guests at the banquet will not have been that happy, as they will have probably starved themselves all day just to feed themselves at this banquet, and now going away with no food, not very pleasing for them! I don’t think they would have been impressed by Macbeth’s behaviour, he is a King, people look up to him, I don’t think they will think this no more, going on like that.
This wouldn’t be a good scene to act out in a theatre as the ghost has to disappear and come back again, and magic doesn’t exist. But if it were to be made into a film, well that’s different because in our modern age we have excellent technology, which can make anyone do anything in a film, such as in the Polanski film version where a clip of someone dressed up as the ‘dead Banquo’ was imposed onto the film.
At the beginning of Act 4 scene 1, the witches are making a potion, which includes a lot of gruesome ingredients:
“Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,”
“Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
Witches’ mummy, maw and gulf,”
“Liver of blaspheming Jew,
Gall of goat, and slips of yew,”
“Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips,
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-delivered by a drab,”
As you can see these are not very appetising. All these horrible ingredients are enough to put the Jacobean audience off their supper never mind me!
When Macbeth goes to see the witches again this time his attitude changes since the last time, this time he shows no respect towards them and all he wants is to find out more, and will do anything to get more information, even drink that potion that the witches had just made. He calls them:
“How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags!”
This shows how desperate Macbeth is. This also shows that he has changed because before he would have waited and would have been content with what he got. I think that Macbeth has changed because of all the evil things he has done, it is like at the beginning:
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair;”
Macbeth, who seems to be fair, is now foul! He has changed from good to evil all because of these witches.
This time Macbeth goes to see the witches he gets there more prophecies:
First: “Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth, beware
Beware the Thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough."
Second: “Be bloody, bold and resolute; laugh to scorn
The power of man, for none of woman born
Shall Harm Macbeth”
Third: “Be lion-mettled, proud and take no care
Who chafes, who frets, of where conspirers are.
Macbeth shall never vanquished be, until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him.”
This time the witches give Macbeth the prophecies in a different way, they make him dream about them, the potion they gave to him must have been made to make him do this.
I think this has been done a different way because Shakespeare would have thought he couldn’t do it the same as before as that would have made the audience lose interest and William Shakespeare wouldn’t have wanted this because this part of the play is probably the most important part.
Also Macbeth wanted to know whether Banquo’s children would ever reign in Scotland:
“shall Banquo’s issue ever
Reign in this kingdom?”
Macbeth will want to know this because he will want his children to reign after him and not Banquo’s children, as he will want his name to carry on. The witches give him an answer to this by, in his dream, at the end, showing him eight Kings who are all Banquo’s sons and the last is holding up a mirror with Banquo’s face in it, smiling.
When Macbeth wakes up it is morning and all the witches have gone, Macbeth says these words about them:
“Where are they? Gone? Let this pernicious hour
Stand aye accursed in the calendar.”
This is saying that, let this harmful hour stay remembered, so Macbeth does not want to particularly remember this day. Also you can tell Macbeth doesn’t like them at all, infact he hates them, just by this quote:
“Infected be the air whereon they ride,
And damned all those that trust them.”
When Macbeth says ‘all those’ he is referring to anyone like himself, who trusts in them.
At the end of the play the way in which the third prophesy is fulfilled is by Malcom’s battle tactics:
“Let every soldier saw him down a bough,
And bear’t before him, thereby shall we shadow
The numbers of our host, and make discovery
Err in respect of us.”
This is saying that every soldier should cut down a branch and when the time is right, hold it infront of himself so that it will disguise how many of them there are. Once every soldier had done this they started there march to Dunsinane Castle but to get there they have to go over Dunsinane hill it looks like the trees from Birnham wood are moving towards the castle:
“As I did stand my watch upon the hill,
I looked toward Birnham, and anon methought
The wood began to move.”
This is how the third prophecy came true.
The second prophecy came true while Macbeth is fighting Macduff. Macbeth, thinking he is indestructible, starts shouting that ‘none of woman born shall harm me’ and that is when Macduff turns the table:
“Despair thy charm,
And let the angel whom thou still hast served
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb
Untimely ripped.”
And that is the second prophecy true, Macduff I saying that he was born by Caesarean section, not the normal way of being born.
And the third prophesy:
“Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth, beware
Beware the Thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough.”
Well here it stands, Macbeth facing Macduff, the person he is meant to beware, and so he should. Macbeth and Macbeth fight and Macbeth is slaughtered.
As you can see all the prophecies came true in an unexpected way, the trees did not really come to Dunsinane hill, and Macduff was not really not born of woman. So all of these prophecies were tricks, as they did not morally come true.
The witches had a huge effect on Macbeth. Without them putting ideas into his head, I don’t think that he would have killed King Duncan and Banquo. Lady Macbeth also plays a big part in this play because she was pushing Macbeth to kill King Duncan, calling him, agitating him etc.
Also I think another reason why ‘Macbeth’ has witches in it is because William Shakespeare knew that the King, James I, was coming to watch the opening play and he knew he was in interested in the supernatural as he had written a book called ‘Demonology’ which was about the supernatural, so Shakespeare was trying to impress him. Also the witches add atmosphere to the play.
There were quite a lot of supernatural events in the play, there were witch scenes, hallucinations and a number of unnatural happenings. These scenes are very effective as they add a lot of atmosphere and entertainment. They also add anxiety and suspense.
I think most of the scenes will be very good to act out in theatre or film, as they are quite flexible.
The supernatural make a huge contribution to this play because, they transform Macbeth, from good to evil, they provoke him and put ideas in his mind, they push him to do more. The supernatural is the best part of the play in my eyes!
