What contribution do the Witches make to the play Macbeth?

What contribution do the Witches make to the play?

The height of religion during and the Elizabethan period, gave way to a huge fascinating belief in Witches, which resulted in persecution on a terrifyingly large scale. This belief would have had major influence over Shakespeare’s decision to portray the evil and darkness present in his play of Macbeth, as the audience at the time would have been able to understand the hideousness, and evil luring in the three ‘weird sisters’.

The Oxford English dictionary also states that a Witch is believed to be ‘a girl or woman capable of enchanting or bewitching a man’ and this belief is strongly portrayed in Macbeth as he is taken in by the Witches convincing, manipulative words.

The Elizabethan illusion of a witch ranged from the ‘ugly hag’ with the dark cloak, black cat and carbuncled nose to anyone who possessed a ‘devils mark’ which meant that Satan had sucked their blood in exchange for a ‘familiar’ that became their evil servant. Today, portrayal of the witches has changed dramatically. The fearful ‘black and midnight hags’ have become unbelievable, and instead in their place have come attractive, enticing females and even children, to show that anyone can appear as the ‘innocent flower but be the serpent under’t’

Throughout the play, the witches work hard to place evil in Macbeth, so he will go on to help them in infecting the Scotland’s body politic that without being fully intact, causes chaos and destruction, creating a hell on Earth. The Witches work for themselves only and have major contribution to the plot, as without them, the events that run throughout the play, would not be orchestrated without their sinister evil characters and actions.

We meet the Witches at the very start of the play in a desolate place, a place outside society and morals. Hell has been described as being desolate in the past, which reflects the evil in the Witches. In Act 1 Scene 1 we are told that they plan to meet with Macbeth after the ‘hurly-burly’s done’. They are referring to a battle, which shows the extent of the destruction in Scotland already growing. They all know that this battle will end ‘ere the set of sun’, showing they can foretell the future. In this scene we also hear of two of the Witches familiars, who they rely on and obey, ‘Graymalkin’ a cat and ‘Paddock’ a toad, two well-known animals associated with witches. The Witches finish their scene on a rhyming couplet stating ‘fair is foul, and foul is fair, Hover through the fog and filthy air’. This informs us of the hatred the witches have for anything beautiful and harmonious and also presents a moral inversion.

The audience next meet the witches on a heath in Act 1 Scene 3. At the beginning of the scene, we learn more about their powers as the First Witch describes her fury over a woman who would not give her a chestnut and how she plans to sail in a sieve ‘like a rat without a tail’ to the woman’s husbands ship. The audience would understand this imagery at the time Macbeth was written, as it has always been a legend that witches could sail in a sieve, and also be able to turn into animals but without a certain characteristic so it would be distinguishable that it was not what it seemed.

The First Witch also describes how she plans to ‘drain him dry as hay’ showing her limited powers as she cannot actually kill him. This also explains why they need Macbeth to kill the king for them, as they recognise Macbeth will be taken in by their evil and do their work for them.

When they meet Macbeth and Banquo, they lay down three important prophecies:

‘All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis’

‘All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor’

‘All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter’

This will confuse Macbeth as he only holds the title of Thane of Glamis and make him fascinated and lured in by the Witches as they are offering him something he dreams of having; the royal title of king. The witches also use riddles and repetition to ambush Macbeth’s thoughts and actions and even Banquo, notices that Macbeth appears ‘rapt’.

Banquo tells them to ‘speak then to [him], who neither beg nor fear [their] favours nor [their] hate’ showing his rejection to the Witches and hence revealing his good soul and awareness of what the Witches are. The Witches then tell Banquo that he will be ‘lesser than Macbeth, and greater’ and be ‘not so happy, yet much happier’. The Witches language appears confusing, and incomplete and Macbeth describes them as ‘imperfect speakers’ but fails to realise their deliberate perplexing words will allow the Witches to establish themselves in his very own weak soul.

After the Witches disappear, Macbeth is greeted with the news that he is to be Thane of Cawdor and his mind begins to work, as he knows ‘the greatest is behind’ showing that the Witches evil is beginning to work in his mind.

On the night of Duncan’s Murder, Macbeth has a hallucination of a dagger with its handle pointing towards his hand in Act 2 scene 1. This is likely to have been a vision sent from the Witches to encourage him to commit the ‘bloody business’ showing their contribution to the murder. It is here we notice that the Witches have infected him as he says ‘nature seems dead’ and uses evil images and words such as ‘witchcraft’ ‘wicked’ and ‘howl’.

The witches also have a major contribution to Banquo’s death as Macbeth remembers that they ‘hailed him father to a line of kings’. In Act 3 scene 1 Macbeth acts like the Witches in how he twists the truth with the murderers to make it seem like Banquo is to blame for their bad quality of life. With the fact that Banquo’s son Fleance could become king, he asks the murderers to ‘leave no rubs nor blotches in the work’. The evil the Witches have embedded in Macbeth’s soul begins to make him obsessed and he believes that by ...

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At the banquet, celebrating the coronation in Act 3 Scene 4, Macbeth is pleased to know of Banquo’s death but when hearing that Fleance escaped he is ‘cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in to saucy doubts and fears’. The paranoia of being unsteady on the throne returns and the fear in Macbeth increases as he sees a ghost of Banquo. The Witches may have sent this ghost or vision, as it will create more tension and paranoia in Macbeth whose behaviour will lead to further destruction of Scotland. Lady Macbeth asks her husband ‘why do you make such faces?’ reinforcing the witches contribution to the ghost as changing faces were a well known trick witches could do, according to Elizabethan myth. The audience will also see that Macbeth is still disturbed and enchanted by the Witches as he starts to really use Witch-like language as he mutters to himself that ‘it will have blood they say: blood will have blood’ and mentions ‘maggot pies and choughs’.

At this point Macbeth decides to re-visit the Witches as the plot of Macbeth slowly runs out of steam. This quickly starts it up again, as it opens up more options to Macbeth. Before this scene, there is a short scene between the witches and Hecate, queen of the witches. This scene is unusual as it does not fit the style of the rest of the play and does not move the plot on in anyway. The scene is set out in rhyming couplets and shows that Hecate is angry due to the witches not sharing their plans with her. This scene is often cut when performed because many people believe Shakespeare did not write it.

Act 4 Scene 1 is a very crucial part of the play and shows the Witches have major contribution in the events that follow. The scene starts with the Witches making a potion in a hypnotic trance. It is here we hear of the 3rd Witch’s familiar ‘Harpier’ a creature that has a woman’s face and a bird’s body, as the familiars help the Witches create the spell. The language in this scene creates an evil and hideous image, as they add ‘wool of bat, and tongue of dog’ and ‘Witch’s mummy, maw and gulf’ among other ingredients to their potion. They use rhyming couplets and repetition such as ‘Double, double toil and trouble Fire burn and cauldron bubble’ to emphasise the trance-like status they are in.

The Witches know that Macbeth is on his way as they sense all evil and regard Macbeth himself as ‘something wicked’. When he arrives he greets them with ‘How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags’, words associated with Witches. Macbeth has control of the Witches in this scene as he orders them to show him the apparitions that will answer his troubles.

The prophecies made by these apparitions have major influence and contribution to the plot as Macbeth holds onto them for the rest of the play, believing every word they say. The First apparition warns Macbeth of Macduff. This warning contributes to Macbeth sending in murderers to kill Lady Macduff and her young children later on in the play. Without the contribution of the Witches and their evil invocations captured in Macbeth this murder, as well as the other two would not have occurred. Lady Macduff before she dies states that ‘in this earthly world to do harm, is often laudable, to do good sometime accounted dangerous folly’ showing that the Witches are successfully breaking down the rules and justice of Scotland.

The 2nd apparition tells Macbeth that ‘none of woman born shall harm [him]’ which pleases Macbeth, as he believes he is invincible. The Witches manage to trick him still, as Macduff ‘was from his mothers womb untimely ripped’ and Macbeth is eventually beaten.

The 3rd apparition foretells that ‘Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him’ This also pleases Macbeth as it seems impossible for a wood to move, but inevitably it will not go to plan when the opposition army camouflage themselves by cutting down trees to use as a shadow, to disguise the number of their army.

By Act 5 Scene 8 Macbeth’s ‘charmed life’ has run out and he recognises the witches as ‘juggling fiends no more believed that palter with us in a double sense’ and continues fighting until he is slain and the righteousness is restored in Scotland.

Throughout Macbeth, there are several themes running through it and the Witches are involved a great deal through all of them. The most obvious theme of Macbeth is that of Murder and Death, inspired by the Witches with their imagery, language and indirect involvement in the murders.

During the night of Duncan’s murder there is a diabolical storm and nocturnal animals such as owls and wolves are heard and disturb Lady Macbeth’s thoughts. These could have been sent from the Witches themselves as they work with violent elements. In Act 2 Scene 4, to reinforce the irregularity of events, the old man talks of a falcon that was killed by an owl, which seems strange as it should be reversed. Also, the fact that is should be day ‘yet dark night strangles the travelling lamp’ seems as though God is angry at the events happening in Macbeth’s castle. The darkness present in Duncan’s and Banquo’s murder is likely to have been sent by the Witches to allow no light to see Macbeth’s ‘black and deep desires’ so his evil intentions and actions are hidden. This unnatural ‘dark night’ and strange occurrences acts as pathetic fallacy and could represent the break down of Scotland, and the destruction of the storm reflects the destruction the Witches have caused.

The theme of death and murder is also one of ambition as Macbeth ruthlessly seeks for power, without caring what it takes to get there, ultimately becoming a dictator in hope of finding happiness. The Witches contribute this ambition and the violence involved with getting what he wants causes Macbeth to realise that ‘[he has] no spur to prick the sides of [his] intent, but only vaulting ambition’

Not only do they help create chaos and work with the elements to reflect the mood, they imbed images of murder in people’s minds, and do this by sending visions such as the dagger, and by inspiring Macbeth to be ‘bold bloody and resolute’ when posing confusing riddles that do not speak all the truth that they might appear to hold. Around the theme of death, there is many euphemisms to make Macbeth feel more comfortable with his actions and to make it seem like less of a felony. Murder and death become ‘taking off’, ‘bloody business’ and being ‘safe’.

Another big theme present in the play is witchcraft and the supernatural. The language the Witches use is very dark, morbid and equivocating and the riddles and hypnotic trances they use reinforce the idea of witchcraft and powerful spirits into the play. A major concept of the play is the magical use of the number 3 and this is found in various parts of the play. Firstly there are three ‘weird sisters’ and three prophecies and three apparitions. When in a ritual together the Witches recite ‘Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, and thrice again, to make up nine.’ Later, in Act 4 Scene 1 when creating their potion, the Witches use the magical number again as they chant ‘thrice the brindled cat hath mewed. Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined.’ The number3 could also be considered in the deaths, as three main murder incidents occur; that of Duncan and the grooms, Banquo’s and The Macduffs’. The magical number is very important to the Witches and they use it to bring them the chaos and destruction they long for, to Scotland.

The Witches are referred to in the play as the three ‘weird sisters’ reflecting the ‘three weird sisters of fate’ who were evil and full of these supernatural powers they possess themselves. They are only ever referred to as Witches once, by the First Witch and later Macbeth calls them ‘filthy hags’ and ‘juggling fiends’, which describes all they represent.

The Witches are also part of the good versus evil theme running through Macbeth. They present the evil and place this in Macbeth, whilst Duncan and Banquo represent the good side. Macbeth’s kingdom is presented as a ludicrous parody of Duncan’s, as it represents all that Duncan’s was not. The play shows how evil can spread and the good can be left to suffer, but the good can get together to fight back and work against evil to sustain harmony back into the World.

A major aim of the Witches is to destroy the body politic in Scotland. In the 16th and 17th Century it was believed that the country was like that of a body, with the natural hierarchy of the king being the head with his members following. With this body, if a part of it becomes diseased then the rest of the body suffers until it is totally poisoned. This would be even more disastrous and fatal if the head, or king were to be removed as the rest of the body is left helpless and unable to manage or work, without the ‘brain’. To demonstrate the break down of this body, many singular, removed body parts are involved in the Witches potion in Act 4 Scene 1, such as ‘Eye of newt, toe of frog’, ‘tongue of dog’, ‘liver of blaspheming Jew’ and ‘Finger of birth-strangled babe’.

Early on in the play there is apparent imagery of body parts such as Macbeth’s soliloquy in Act 1 Scene 3, where he is thinking of the ‘horrid image’ of death that infixes his hair ‘and make [his] seated heart knock at [his ribs]’.

By destroying the body of Scotland the Witches would succeed in their ultimate aim of creating a hell on Earth. The imagery of disease and medicine continues throughout the play, especially towards the end of Macbeth’s reign. Malcolm sees the attack on Macbeth as being a cure of the ‘deadly grief’ and Caithness orders to ‘meet the med’cine of the sickly weal, and with him pour we in our country’s purge, each drop of us.’

Macbeth fails to realise he is a ‘disease’ and that he himself is ‘brain sickly’ even when discussing his wife’s sickness with doctor. He pleads with the doctor to ‘cure her of that’ and to ‘cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff which weighs upon the heart’ without knowing that he is the disease and the only way she is cured of it, is to die.

Another theme of the play is deception and trickery and the idea of evil lurking behind fair looks. Lady Macbeth understands that this must be used in order to succeed in getting away with murdering the king. She tells her husband to ‘look like th’innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t’. Macbeth takes on this idea and repeats it when he tells his wife ‘false face must hide what the false heart doth know’

Duncan is weak because of his good soul and his ability to trust face value even though he realises ‘there’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face’ he is fooled again by Macbeth, and Macbeth is equally fooled by the Witches entrapment and ambiguousness.

This disguise begins to break down, as Macbeth’s conscious and guilt takes over and he is unable to sleep. He tells his wife he heard a voice crying ‘Sleep no more: Macbeth does murder sleep’ and this becomes true as he finds his mind is ‘full of scorpions’. Both him and Lady Macbeth are unable to forget the ‘terrible dreams that shake [them] nightly’ and even Lady Macbeth begins to sleep walk, showing his disturbed sleeping pattern.

A smaller imagery present in Macbeth is that of clothes that Macbeth has been wrongly dressed in by the Witches. When told he is to be titled Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth asks the metaphor ‘why do you dress me in borrowed robes?’ and Banquo mentions ‘strange garments’ that he feels uncomfortable with. Later on, Macbeth is believed to have ‘stolen’ the royal throne from Duncan showing the unfair evil actions the Witches had to take in order to destroy Scotland.

The Witches are associated with evil connotations through out the play and are shown to be different from the other characters by the way they appear, speak and act. Shakespeare portrays the witches as the stereotypical type of that period, and when Macbeth and Banquo first meet the witches on a heath they are described as being ‘so withered and so wild in their attire’. Banquo, announces that they ‘look not like th’inhabitants o’th’earth, and yet are on’t’ which shows how supernatural and fascinating they are when compared to humans.

In the 16th and 17th century a witch was believed to be able to fly and disappear, and in Act 1 Scene 3 they ‘melted, as breath into the wind’ which also demonstrates how they work with violent elements such as wind and storms. They were also believed to change into other objects, predict the future, produce dark and powerful potions, enchant and captivate their pray as well as many other magical and fearful illusions and trickery. These powers are fully demonstrated throughout Macbeth and they especially orchestrate their ability to send visions, such as the dagger Macbeth sees before he murders Duncan, the ghost of Banquo at the banquet and the three apparitions in Act 4 Scene 1.

The witches have a far-reaching manipulation over Macbeth and after laying down the three prophecies in Act 1 Scene 3 he is fascinated by them and he believes and trusts them, mainly because they are offering him something incredible that seems too good to be true. From the beginning we see that Macbeth relates to the Witches as he comments ‘so foul and fair a day I have not seen’, comparable to the witches belief that ‘fair is foul and foul is fair’ informing the audience of the evil inside him.

The evil minds of the Witches begin to take him over him by Act 1 Scene 4 when he becomes angry over having an obstacle to overcome to get to the throne. He prays in hope that stars will hide his fires and to ‘let not light see <his> black and deep desires’. This evil that has been planted by the three weird sisters continues to grow as we see the development of his mind during the play. In Act 1 Scene 7 he has doubt over whether to murder Duncan and asks his wife ‘if we should fail?’ He often needs his wife to reassure him at the beginning, but by Banquo’s death he is not involving her and tells her to be ‘innocent of the knowledge’ showing no hesitation in the murder he is about to order. During the banquet he becomes terrified of the ghost of Banquo and cannot sleep due to the ‘affliction of terrible dreams’ but at the end of the play, when he has practically been overcome by evil, he realises that he has ‘almost [forgotten] the taste of fears’ showing the extent of influence the witches evil has had on him. The evil in Macbeth leads him to be known not as a king or by his name, but as a ‘hell hound’ a ‘tyrant’ and a ‘thief’ as he took the crown unrightfully. Macbeth’s ruling has caused distrust, suspicion and restlessness and this shows a complete separation from Duncan’s kingdom, displaying more of the effects the Witches have had on him.

In Act 4 Scene 1, Macbeth becomes so filled with evil, that he orders that if the Witches do not tell him if ‘Banquo’s issue [will] ever reign in this kingdom’ he will place an ‘eternal curse’ on all of them. When they give him the answer that his children will reign as king, Macbeth calls them ‘filthy hags’ and asks for ‘this pernicious hour, stand aye accursed in the calendar’.

Even though he is angry with them and does not like the idea of Banquo’s descendants ruling, Macbeth carries on believing in the witches right up to the end of the play. Finally he realises they are not to be trusted and he snaps out of his awe and fascination with them and is left feeling vulnerable and weak as he decides to ‘fight till from [his] bones [his] flesh be hacked’.

Banquo is very different to Macbeth as he decides rightfully to keep distance from the Witches from the start and understands and recognizes the evil they possess. When Macbeth realises one of the Witches prophecies has come true, and he is now Thane of Cawdor, Banquo asks ‘what can the devil speak true?’ showing how he understands the Witches link to Satan and hell.

Banquo even cautions Macbeth of the Witches telling him that ‘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’, which is exactly what happens to Macbeth when the three apparitions and their promises fail him.

Banquo is well aware later on in the play that Macbeth has been taken in by the Witches and prays to ‘merciful powers’ in hope that the Witches will not entrap him and cause harm. After Duncan’s death Banquo prays in hope to fight ‘treasonous malice’ and stands ‘in the great hand of God’. By Act 3 Scene 1, Banquo begins to suspect that for Macbeth to have all that was laid down in his prophecies he might’ve ‘played’st most foully for’t’. Macbeth is aware of Banquo’s good nature and suspicion and it is this that ultimately decides the fate of Banquo, as he is murdered for rejecting the Witches and believing in what is right and just.

A contrast to Banquo’s good nature and holy prayers is Lady Macbeth who prays to the ‘spirits that tend on mortal thoughts’ which are the same spirits that the Witches follow and work for. This is why Lady Macbeth can be considered as the fourth witch of the play as without her, Macbeth may not have found the courage to kill the king. She also calls upon the evil spirits to ‘fill [her] from the crown to the toe top full of direst cruelty’ which will mean she has sold her soul to the devil, like the witches have. The language she uses when praying to the devil is similar to that of the witches. To show she is in tune with them, she uses words like ‘fatal’ ‘murd’ring’ ‘cruelty’ and mentions a ‘raven’ a bird associated with evil and darkness. It is also Lady Macbeth who plans the murder for Macbeth, and come up with the idea of murdering the sleeping grooms and helps him to ‘look like th’innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t’ which is something a witch may use to gain the trust of their victim. When praying to the devil, Lady Macbeth asks the spirits to ‘unsex [her] here’ ultimately wanting to become less of a woman and have the milk from her breasts taken ‘for gall’. This also makes her appear like a witch as Banquo states in Act 1 Scene 3 that the Witches ‘should be women, and yet [their] beards forbid [him] to interpret that [they] are so’.

The idea of Lady Macbeth being a 4th Witch carries on later into the play when she has a mental breakdown and no longer appears strong but instead completely weak and tortured by the evil spirits. In Act 5 Scene 1 she regresses back to the murder and persistently tries to rub of a spot of blood on her hand, which relates to the ‘devil’s mark’ that a Witch legendry possessed. It is in this scene where we see the extent of the Witches work on her even though she has not directly experienced them, but she has suffered from Macbeth’s enthralment with them and from the evil she has possessed herself. Lady Macbeth ends up committing suicide and is referred by Malcolm as a ‘fiend-like queen’ showing another clear link to the Witches.

The Witches are involved in adding a cruel, serious and dark ambience to the play due to their actions and influences that help them to be indirectly involved throughout.

The Witches always meet in a desolate place showing their separation from the World and humans, away from rules and morals. The Witches scenes occur near battle scenes, in dark caves and wind rattled heaths, reflecting their violence and powerful wants and needs.

When we see the Witches there is always thunder, lightning and storms and these act as pathetic fallacy showing the chaos and destruction they cause and love. They control these elements and create more storms and darkness on the night of Duncan’s murder to show their contribution to it without being directly present on stage. This was made clear through a production seen on stage when they often brought the Witches on to walk round the stage holding hands to keep them alive in our minds, and reminding us of their involvement. This stage production, also presented Macbeth to be surrounded by all the people he had killed towards the end as he states ‘I cannot taint with fear’, to reinforce the idea of his tyranny and his desperate want for power.

Overall, the Witches have major contribution to the plot, by enchanting the mind of Macbeth with promises and equivocation and planting in him the evil that will lead to Scotland’s break down and destruction. The Witches work with the elements to conjure up storms and produce visions to reinforce murder into Macbeth’s mind and then taunt Macbeth with dreams and ghosts. These three characters are easily the most interesting characters in the play as they are fascinating and are able to twist truths to hide their darkest side, which takes over the whole play because of the weak soul and the longing for power in Macbeth.

Kelly Meade 11.4/11.DB