What do the three scenes featuring the Witches contribute to Macbeth?

Authors Avatar

GCSE Shakespeare Coursework                    Valentina Spektor 12.06.09

What do the three scenes featuring the Witches contribute to Macbeth?

During the Jacobean era the public were increasingly preoccupied with witchcraft. In 1564 a law came into force making murder by witchcraft punishable by death. It is estimated that in Scotland alone 8,000 witches were burned at the stake between 1564 and 1603. In 1604 an additional law was passed in Scotland, which declared that anyone found guilty of practising witchcraft should be executed. James I became personally involved with witchcraft when he and his wife were almost shipwrecked on returning from Denmark.

Due to so little scientific advancement at the time, the general population were extremely superstitious. They believed their lives were very strongly influenced, if not commanded, by fate. Shakespeare incorporated many of the beliefs and superstitions of the era into this play. Although this essay refers to them as the witches, throughout Shakespeare’s play they are referred to as the weird sisters. The word weird in this case is a derivation of the old English word wyrd, which means fate. This use of the word wyrd elevates the sisters above the merely human witch of Jacobean folklore and portrays them as semi-divine figures.

There are three weird sisters, which is a reference to the magic number 3, which can be linked both to the Holy Trinity and the Evil 3. Women such as the witches have been featured in both Greek and Norse mythology as supernatural goddesses, under the name the “Fates” or “Parcae” and “Norns”, respectively. Once this link is established one assumes they have a higher level of control over fate and destiny.

        The play opens with the witches. The opening scene usually sets up the theme of the whole play and this is certainly the case with Macbeth. The fact that Shakespeare should choose to open his tragedy with such sinister, almost supernatural, creatures as the witches is instrumental in trying to understand the play’s themes. When the opening scene carries such a message it is easy to predict that the play will be as dark and ominous as its beginning. The witches make a great contribution to the mood and atmosphere of things to come.

Join now!

The play opens with the three witches presumably in a wide and remote “open space”, a “heath”. This scene is short, only 12 lines, but immensely powerful in introducing the backdrop of the production. The witches immediately establish the influence of the supernatural in the play, inject an eerie feeling that they either created the storm in the opening scene, or were produced by it. This further ascertains their role as the supernatural influence on Macbeth.

        The storm is an example of pathetic fallacy that illustrates the power of the elements and those that seemingly control them. The witches bring ...

This is a preview of the whole essay