After listening to everything the witches had to say the audience had probably thought of some questions that hadn’t been answered; for example; why Macbeth was meeting with the witches? Is he good or evil?
Even though the first scene is only 12 lines long, it plays an important role because it sets the whole mood of the play and it makes the audience curious to watch on because they have lots of questions that they want answered.
The witches appear for the second time in Act 1, scene 3. Here they meet Macbeth and Banquo. Before meeting them they were discussing how they cursed a sailor because his wife wouldn’t give them any chestnuts she was eating and how they made ships blow over. This may have scared the audience because it proved to them that these witches were evil, could control nature and were willing to use their powers to do terrible things. This scene shows the witches’ unpleasant and childlike behaviour, which the audience wouldn’t have liked. One example of this is:
“First witch: Look what I have
Second witch: Show me, Show me.
First witch: Here I have a pilots thumb”
The witches also mention a few numbers like three and nine in the line “thrice to thine… to make up nine”. These numbers were associated with the devil and would have further shown the wicked side of the witches to the audience.
At this point in the play the audience is probably anticipating the meeting between Macbeth and the witches because they have heard about Macbeth as being “noble” and “brave” earlier in the play. Now they are not sure whether he is good, noble and brave or if he’s evil like the witches.
When Macbeth sees the witches for the first time, the first thing he says is
“So foul and fair a day I have not seen”
This line echoes what the witches were saying in the first scene and it’s as though fate has already created a link between Macbeth and the witches.
The first things the witches say to Macbeth are the 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 hereafter”
Since the audience already know Macbeth is going to be the Thane of Cawdor because they have heard the exchange between Duncan and Ross earlier, they will begin wondering whether Macbeth will become king and how.
Macbeth takes these prophecies very seriously and begins believing them, whereas Banquo, seems amused and suspicious when he asks the witches “ If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak then to me”
The witches reply that Banquo is going to be the father of kings, but won’t be the king himself. This makes Macbeth very worried.
The prophecies spark off another idea for Macbeth. After meeting with the witches he begins thinking about murder and killing Duncan almost immediately and the line “My Thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical” makes the audience feel that Macbeth was already thinking this for a while before the witches suggest it to him, and that the Witches have only put his thoughts out into the open.
Macbeth doesn’t know that the Thane of Cawdor betrayed Duncan and he was know going to receive the title, Thane of Cawdor so when Ross and Angus come to tell him that he is know the Thane of Cawdor, he is very surprised because he says “…can the devil speak true?” This is very important because he know believes what the Witches are saying, and so he becomes more and more determined to become King. When he hears that he has become the Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth says “The greatest is behind”, referring to the prophesies the witches made. He means that the greatest prophesy of all of them is still to come true because the other two already have.
During Macbeth’s first Soliloquy, Act 1 scene 3, he argues to himself about weather the witches are good or evil. He says:
“… if ill,
why hath it given me earnest of success
… I am Thane of Cawdor…
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs…”
Already, in three scenes we can see how important the witches are. Thye have set the play going, and we can see that without them the play wouldn’t have been as full of suspense.
As the play progresses we can see the influence the witches have on Lady Macbeth, though she never meets them they have an indirect influence upon her through Macbeth. We see this after she reads the letter she receives from Macbeth, where she becomes very violent and begins calling on the devil to get rid of her feminine qualities and to “unsex” her. She also says “fill me from my crown…” instead of head, which is ironic.
The witches influence the death of Banquo, Macduff’s son, wife and Duncan. All this is for the reason that Macbeth doesn’t want to lose the throne, but what he doesn’t realize that by killing all these people he is just making it more and more likely that he’s not going to keep the throne. This is because, the death of Macduff’s son and wife make Macduff even more determined to kill Macbeth, to avenge the death of his King, Duncan, and his family.
The final place where the witches appear in the play is in Act 4, scene 1. The witches are seen performing a spell. Also, a new character is introduced here, Hecate, the queen of the witches. However many people believe that Hecate wasn’t part of the original script written by Shakespeare because there is new use for her part, as she doesn’t contribute significantly to the plot. Perhaps, she was added because the audience enjoyed seeing the witches or an actor wanted a part.
The witches meet Macbeth again here, Act 4. This scene shows how mysterious and devious the witches are because the make Macbeth believe that he is invincible and that he can’t be defeated. Macbeth doesn’t really know what the witches are like, and so he begins demanding the witches to do what he says.
Macbeth demands:
“…answer me
to what I ask you.”
The witches play along with Macbeth and say
“ First Witch: Say
Second Witch: Demand
Third Witch: We’ll Answer. “
However the audience knows that the witches do not really mean what they are saying, they are just trying to make Macbeth feel more powerful therefore being more likely to believe what the witches are going to say next.
Macbeth then asks to see what the witches’ masters are willing to show him. His answer comes in a form of four apparitions. The first is an “armed head” which says “… beware Macduff;
Beware the Thane of Fife…”
This apparition just confirms Macbeth’s earlier suspicions of Macduff and his doings in England.
The second apparition, “a bloody child”, says “ … none of women born
Shall harm Macbeth.”
The third apparition is a crowned child carrying a tree in his hand. He says
“ … Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until
Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill
Shall come against him.”
The second and third apparitions probably make Macbeth feel invincible because in a literal sense, what the apparitions are saying make it seem that way. The second one says that anyone born from a woman will not be able to harm Macbeth, and this is absolutely impossible because everyone is born from a woman. However if Macbeth had looked at the meaning under the words he would have realized that the apparition could mean that anyone that wasn’t born from a caesarean couldn’t harm him. We later find out that this is true because when Macduff comes to kill Macbeth in Act 5, scene 7, Macduff tells Macbeth that he was “from his mothers womb
Untimely ripp’d”
The third apparition says that until Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane, Macbeth will never be overpowered. However, we find out later on in the play that what this apparition means is that Macbeth will never be beaten until it appears that Birnam Hill is moving to Dunsinane. This happens in Act 5, scene 6 when Malcolm and his men approach Dunsinane camouflaged with boughs from the trees.
Both this apparitions show the scheming and deceitful side of the witches.
The last apparition is the one Macbeth understands completely. This one shows “…Eight kings; the last with a glass in his hand…” which all look like Banquo. He realizes that this means that Banquo’s descendants will have the throne, not his. This apparition shows the audience that the witches do know how to predict the future, because what they said earlier to Banquo about his sons being king is true, and the witches’ masters confirm it.
The witches evil and devious nature makes Macbeth kill Duncan, Macduff’s Wife and son and his close friend, Banquo. It is the witches fault that Lady Macbeth dies, because she dies out of guilt of killing Duncan. In the end it is finally evident that Macbeth’s doings, because of what the witches ideas and encouragement made him do, gets him killed as well. While the witches alone, may not be the only cause of Macbeth’s doings, they play the greatest part in firing up Macbeth’s ambitions and encouraging him, indirectly, to do what he does.
