The mood of the weather reflects on the fact that there will be scenes of horror soon to come, for example, the showing of the witches and the numerous murders committed by Macbeth later on in the play. This would sustain the audiences’ interests because everyone, even today, enjoys a good fright within a movie or play.
Impressing the King and gaining his acceptance, was extremely important to all playwrights, especially to Shakespeare. If the King approved and enjoyed the Play, it would encourage great publicity and therefore increase the audience size dramatically. In Shakespearean days, it was thought of as essential, to please and impress the Monarchy. Shakespeare did this through his presentation of the witches and Banquo. Banquo was a mythical person invented as the founder of the Stuart royal family. Showing his decent from Banquo, King James would have enjoyed Shakespeare’s portrayal of Banquo as an honourable, faithful soldier.
‘Enter three witches’. This would engage the audiences’ interests because, throughout Shakespeare’s lifetime, witches were feared and believed to have some form of interaction with the devil. Therefore anyone thought to be a witch was severely tortured and executed. Witches were also believed to call upon evil spirits with charms and incantation and predict futures. Shakespeare added the witches to the play because they seemed to add a sense of horror to the play, frightening the audience, and was fundamental to the plot. The witches informed Macbeth that he would become king in the near future. Simply for the fact that people in those days had such strong beliefs of witches being able to predict futures, quite naturally Macbeth believed them. Therefore Macbeth did everything in his power to ensure that his prediction became reality by murdering king Duncan and covering up his tracks. The witches from the play used rhymes to emphasise spells and incantations, which strengthened the audiences’ beliefs. This added to the reality of the play.
Later on in the opening scene, one of the witches states ‘when the hurleyburley’s done, when the battles lost and won’. The word hurleyburley indicates torment and confusion, so immediately the audience pick up an idea that there is going to be a dilemma within the play. The dilemma is the battle Macbeth endures himself trough with his soul, and his wife over the murdering of King Duncan. ‘When the battles lost and won’ suggests to the audience that a battle is going to occur, immediately accumulating interest in the play, because everyone enjoys a bit of conflict within a play. The second witch states, ‘there to meet with Macbeth’, this brings up three main questions to the audiences’ attention: who is Macbeth? Why is he meeting with the witches? Is he good or bad? This brings a sense of curiosity and mystery to Macbeth, as well as confusion to the audience. Shakespeare does this because it maintains the audiences’ interests, leaving them eager to find out the answers to their questions.
Shakespeare began the opening scene of Macbeth in an attempt to engage the audiences’ interest. The opening scene gave the audience a slight clue as to what was likely to occur within the play, which acted as a prologue. He used the brief showing of the witches to frighten the audience as well as confusing them - the witches mentioning Macbeth’s name.
