“/Sweltered venom sleeping got,
boil thou first i’th’charmed pot.”
Shakespeare not only uses the witches as characters to create atmosphere but also uses them to represent powerful evil forces that the audience and Macbeth cannot fully comprehend. Shakespeare creates this by using the witches as characters that can see into the future which is a “breach in nature,” (Act 2 iii l.106) as it was believed that people who could see into the future were unnatural. We can see this in “Macbeth,” due to the witches prophesising that Macbeth “shalt become the king.” Therefore, for this reason Macbeth kills the King, which breaks the flow of nature, 0as it was believed in Shakespeare day that killing the King was a breach in nature. Another way in which Shakespeare creates the sense of the withes’ power to see into the future, is by having a line of kings with King James holding “two fold balls and a treble scepter,” even before it happened, which represents two orbs that James I carried at his two coronations in Scotland and England. The most important way that Shakespeare uses the witches to represent evil is by using them to bring about Macbeth’s own downfall after predicting his future because the witches feel he has become more malevolent than they are. This can be seen through the onomatopoeic language the witches use to describe what they will do to Macbeth which can been seen below (Act 3, iv) :
“/As by the strength of their illusion
Shall draw him on to his confusion.
He shall spurn fate, scorn death…”
The use of the alliteration for example he will “spurn,” and “scorn,” really gives the sense of a spell being created by the witches which will destroy Macbeth’s future.
Finally the witches represent evil by taking away Macbeths thoughts. The reason why this is evil because it is an unnatural and unchristian thing to do, to take away somebody’s thoughts which has resulted him to commit these “twenty mortal murders,”(Act 3 iv l.81) including the death of Duncan without him feeling remorseful. This therefore can lead us to believe that Macbeth has become possessed by demonic forces due to the way he describes himself , for example “I have a strange infirmity which is nothing to those that know me,” which suggests some sort of irregularity in his behavior.
This possessed behavior can make the audience believe that the witches have lead Macbeth to regicide, which is an act that is seen unnatural, as in Jacobeans believed in the divine right of Kings. The witches help Macbeth commit this act of unnaturalness by prophesying “that he shalt be king hereafter,” and by taunting him with this hope.
The reason why we may believe that Macbeth is being taunted is because he is possessed by the witches as Macbeth says “I have almost [forgotten] the taste of fears,” which suggests to the audience that the 3 evil sisters have taken away his fear so that he does not fear being taunted and so he can commit the murder later. However the audience may believe that it is Lady Macbeth possession that has influenced Macbeth to commit this murder. The audience may believe that Lady Macbeth is possessed as she call upon evil forces to “unsex,” herself so that she can not feel “the passage to remorse,” for what she is doing.
On the other hand the audience may interpret this in a different way. They may believe that Lady Macbeth through ambition, may have forced him to commit this murder after reading his letter containing the prophecies. The evidence that shows this is when Lady Macbeth questions Macbeths masculinity for example, “I dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more is none,” (Act I vii l46.) which suggests that Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth that he is a coward not to commit the murder of Duncan so that he can become the King. Another example of they way in which Lady Macbeth try’s to question Macbeth’s masculinity is by repeating the word “man,” which may seem to Macbeth that he is not acting manly. We also see Lady Macbeth goading Macbeth into agreeing with the plan to kill the King by using images of killing a baby, which she says she would be strong enough to do, if she’d promised to:
“…. I have given suck and know
How tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me:
I would, while it was smiling in my face,
Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums
And dashed the brains out…”
The effect of this image shows the horror, which Lady Macbeth is ready to commit just to get Macbeth to kill the King. Through the language we can see that this image suggest maternal love at first, however this is juxtaposed with the horror of the killing of an innocent baby by dashing its brains out. Through the language this image of Lady Macbeth killing an innocent baby is also meant to show her strength but actually demonstrates her evil and may even demonstrates possessed behavior. This idea is supported by the way she calls upon evil forces to “unsex,” her and to stop “th’access and passage to remorse.” This suggests that Lady Macbeth wants all her feminine features to be taken away form her and wants her to stop feeling any remorse. In Jacobean times one of the signs of being possessed was calling evil spirits to possess one’s body.
Similarly the audience feels that Macbeth has been possessed as Macbeth says “full of scorpions is my mind,” this suggests that his mind is being possessed. Indeed Macbeth is possessed as he describes his mind before the murder as being “Whole as the marble, founded as the rock as broad and general as the casing air,” these similes suggest that Macbeths mind was hard as rock but now he is “cabined, cribbed, confined bound in to saucy doubts and fears” (Act3 iv l.24). From the language that Macbeth uses and the listing of his feelings we can feel that he is entrapped and fears being buried alive. The use emphasis of “c,” on “cabined, cribbed, confined,” and the alliteration really drives in the thought of confinement and fear. Finally we see Macbeth hallucinating as he sees the ghost of Banquo which is another sign of him being possessed or is it his guilt. However this was another sign to the Jacobeans that somebody was possessed.
On the other hand a modern audience may interpret the hallucinations as Macbeths own ambition taking over him. This is suggested through the language that Macbeth uses to describe himself , as if he is a horse rider who is controlled by ambition so that he can win the race:
“ I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition which o’erleaps itself
And falls on the th’other-”
We can also see that Macbeth is very easily convinced by Lady Macbeth to kill Duncan which can lead us to believe that he is not really possessed but ambitious to become the King. As well as being convinced easily he imagines the “blood /dagger” coming towards him, which proves that Macbeth is ambitious. There is more evidence to show that it was Macbeth’s ambition, not the influence of the witches, that leads him to regicide. For example, Macbeth’s response to the withes differs from that of Banquo. Shortly after they have appeared, Banquo warns Macbeth that witches sometimes tell people “honest trifles, to betray’s.” Nevertheless, Macbeth’s ambition to be king seems to lead him to believe the prophecies, whereas the more loyal Banquo resist the temptation.
After the murder we see that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth live in constant fear of being caught and therefore this causes them to kill more people. Macbeth feels so guilty that he has done this and says that the God “Neptune,” can not “wash this blood,” from their hands, which can lead us to believe that not even the Gods can remove the stains of their guilt. Another example of Macbeth’s guilt is when he hallucinates and sees Banquo’s ghost appearing at the dinner which makes him reveal all the evil things he has. This suggests Macbeth’s own latent fear and shame, as he asks the stars to “hide your fires” so that his “black and deep desires” are not revealed. We also see that Macbeth wants to be dead and feels that a person who is dead has a better life than he has had for example he says “Duncan is in his grave/ after life fitfil fever, he sleeps well.” This also suggests he is guilt for what he has done and it would be better if he died than to stay alive.
The way in which we can see that Lady Macbeth is guiltily as she walks in her sleep and reenacts what happened on the day of the murder. She even says “the fumes of Arabia will not sweeten the little hand,” which suggests not even the sweetest smelling perfume will clean her hands of the murder. In Shakespeare’s time it was believed that sleeping walking was an unnatural thing to do and it was caused by somebody hiding their guilty conscience.
Overall, my opinion is that the witches forced Macbeth to commit the murder. We see that the witches influenced Macbeth as they prophesied that he would become the King and they made him very over confident by saying “none of a women born/Shall harm Macbeth,” which drives him more to commit the murder. We can also see that Macbeth has been possessed by the witches as he can not say “Amen,” which was believed in Shakespeare’s time as being unchristian and being possessed by demonic forces.
However I also think it was partly to do with his own “vaulting,” ambition and Lady Macbeth’s temptation that also made him kill the King.
