There are a number of points to note about the characters and personalities of the witches. In the first scene when they begin to talk, they do so in rhyme. This gives the impression that they are casting a spell, which is one of the supernatural abilities they possess. They express a number of other supernatural abilities throughout the two scenes, such as the ability to change and control the weather. This is demonstrated early on in the scene when the witches say;
“When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lighting, or in rain?”
This tells us that they have the supernatural ability to control the weather and make it how they like and this is also seen when one witch changes into a flash of lighting. Another point to note about their early speech is that it contains some paradoxes;
“When the hurlyburly’s done,
When the battle’s lost and won.”
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“Fair is foul, and foul is fair;
Hover through fog and filthy air.”
These paradoxes are all to do with the witches deceptive nature, and that they withhold the truth a lot of the time. Their speech is often confused and this is the case in Act 1 Scene 3 when they are giving the prophecies to Macbeth and Banquo;
“Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.”
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“Not so happy, yet much happier.”
In this scene they are not telling Macbeth and Banquo everything that they know and are deceiving them with the prophecies. This is due to the disruptive and deceptive nature, and they are intent on causing trouble. Their deceptiveness is also demonstrated in the two scenes in the changing of shape and appearance. Each of the three witches each has two different masks or faces, which they alternate between. They do this when they are talking to Macbeth and Banquo and again it seems that they are deceiving them by doing so. Their body form also changes, and at one stage one witch changes into form of a raven, with outstretched wings. The raven was said to be a symbol, or messenger, of death and Lady Macbeth speaks of it in Act 1 Scene 5;
“The raven himself is hoarse
That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan
Under my battlements.”
The witches, in their prophecies to Macbeth, are deceiving him and weaving a web of trouble. After hearing of the prophecies the ambitious Macbeth is already beginning to think of murdering to achieve his ultimate aim of being king and this is why the changing of form into a raven, the messenger of death, is important.
In Act 1 Scene 3, the witches demonstrate several of their supernatural abilities. At the beginning when the First witch talks of the sailor’s wife and says she will hinder her husband’s journey, her fellow witches say;
“I’ll give thee a wind,”
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“And I another.”
This is a demonstration of the witch’s ability to control the weather, which was also demonstrated in Act 1 Scene 1. The other two witches offer to help out by making the sailor’s journey difficult.
The first witch also demonstrates the same ability in the passage that follows in which she says she will make the sailor’s journey a tough one. The fact that they are offering to help each other reinforces the belief that they are very much alone and have only each other, and that they are indeed “weird sisters”.
When Macbeth and Banquo are on the moor and the witches appear, they appear to drift in and out of visibility, and at times are even translucent. This is an example of the supernatural ability to disappear or vanish. This ability is also seen at the end of both scenes, when the witches link arms, hover above the ground, which is another of their supernatural abilities, and then vanish. The linking of arms shows the togetherness and closeness of the witches but also makes it seem as if they are casting a spell, another of their supernatural abilities.
When the witches are giving their prophecies to Macbeth and Banquo, they are demonstrating the supernatural ability to predict the future. When they tell Macbeth that he will be Thane of Cawdor, the bones of their hands disassemble to become the medal that the Thane of Cawdor wears. The bones are to symbolise death – both the death of King Duncan and also Macdownwald former Thane of Cawdor. It is meaning to say that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor but at the expense of someone else, which is also later the case when he murders Duncan and becomes King. The witch’s bones also change into the form of a crown, which then hovers above Macbeth’s head. It is glowing, and casts a shadow on Macbeth’s face. The shadows that are cast make it seem as if the crown is reflecting on his darker side, and his dark desires. That the crown is just over his head shows that it is out of his reach naturally and he must commit evil to make it his. The witches are tempting Macbeth with the offer of riches and keep it just out of his reach to tease and tempt him, which arouses desires. They are causing trouble by doing this.
The witches are quite horrid in appearance. They do not appear to be gender specific and when they appear in the first scene they have a somewhat death-like appearance – they are skeletal and zombie-like and not at all natural.
When they appear to Banquo and Macbeth in Scene 3 Banquo is confused as to what they are;
“What are these, So wither’d and so wild in their attire,
That look not like th’ inhabitants o’ the earth,
And yet are on ‘t? Live you? Or are you aught
That man may question?”
When they are talking to him and Macbeth they hover around them and their heads become disjointed from the rest of their bodies. The floating heads seem death-like and this shows us again that the witches are very unnatural.
In conclusion, I feel that the text is realised well in “Animated Tales”. The witches are mostly believable and the speech is accurate in accordance with the text. I think however that some parts are a little less realistic than others, simply because of the nature of the cartoon. The witches are well animated and are not at all stereotypical or clichéd. I feel that the film is well made and entertaining, and helps to make the text more interesting.
