Macbeth Essay
Lewis Stuchbury 11e
In 1606, William Shakespeare first performed the play Macbeth to James I, King of the union between England and Scotland. The main reason Shakespeare wrote Macbeth was to warn people of the consequences of trying to harm the King, especially as this was one year after the Gun Power Plot of 1605, where a group of Catholics tried to ill the King by setting up lots of barrels full to the brim of gunpowder under the houses of parliament during a speech by the King. Killing any monarch was obviously a serious offence, but at the time of James I, The 'Chain of Being' existed, which was a belief that a process of 'natural selection' took place where the King was elected by God, and no mortal is higher than he. The belief was the God created the universe, he appointed the King as the Governor of these lands, then the King appointed the nobility, then followed by the Clergy and middle classes, and the peasants were at the bottom of the chain. To upset the chain of being would cause chaos in the land, as the King represented God on Earth. As Shakespeare's patron, James I would enjoy the play because he could easily relate to the story, being a descendant of King Duncan I of Scotland. Another reason for this is James I's avid interest in Witchcraft, which plays a large part in the play.
Witchcraft was a form of magic that was a belief in the Sixteenth century, and it was a belief that Witches who could wield this magic also existed. Witches were mostly women who were believed to possess inhuman abilities including control of the weather and climate, demonic possession of individuals, ability to fly, power to induce nightmares using images within the individual's mind, they could raise evil spirits, making images and objects appear and interact with the individual, foresight, and power linguistic skills allowing them to turn friends against each other. At the time of James I, the executions of supposed Witches was at it's peak, with over 16 000 dying at the hands of witch catchers.
The Witches in Macbeth play a key role in entertaining James I, because of his 'morbid fascination' with them. With Shakespeare's main aim to impress the king, he would gain extra merit for touching on a favoured subject of his.
When the witches first appear in Act One: Scene One, the atmosphere is instantly set by a stage direction reading:
Thunder and Lighting. Enter three Witches.
This represents evil brewing, whether it be a rebellion being concocted in a Kingdom, or 'strife in the minds of men, loosing abroad the forces of evil'. It was ...
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The Witches in Macbeth play a key role in entertaining James I, because of his 'morbid fascination' with them. With Shakespeare's main aim to impress the king, he would gain extra merit for touching on a favoured subject of his.
When the witches first appear in Act One: Scene One, the atmosphere is instantly set by a stage direction reading:
Thunder and Lighting. Enter three Witches.
This represents evil brewing, whether it be a rebellion being concocted in a Kingdom, or 'strife in the minds of men, loosing abroad the forces of evil'. It was said that the witches had the ability to create tempests, so it could be that they could either sense the evil around them, or more likely they created it to begin with. The thunder and lighting is therefore used as a dramatic opening for the play and to set the scene for the witches. This is the same every time the witches appear, with either a storm or some strange happenings. When they leave for the first time, they comment of the bad weather: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair; / Hover through the fog and filthy air". This is a contradiction saying that the air is simultaneously clear and yet foul, meaning that something is wrong.
When Macbeth and Banquo arrive at the heath as the witches predicted, the first thing Macbeth says is: "So foul and fair a day I have not seen". This is a direct link to the last thing the witches said, although this could also be referring to the contrasting weather conditions. Banquo follows this by trying to figure out who or what the witches are: "You should be women, / And yet your beards forbid me to interpret / That you are so". The first reply of the Witches is a reference to the traitor Judas Iscariot when they greet him with: "All hail". This could also be another look into Macbeth's future, as he soon would join the last Thane of Cawdor in treachery.
The witches couple the traitor remark with two additional predictions: "All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! / All hail Macbeth,hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! / All hail Machebth, that shalt be King hereafter!". Banquo, the sceptic of the two, continually discarding the witches' prophecies, when he says "Are ye fantastical, or that indeed / Which outwardly ye show?". This means that Banquo is questioning whether the witches are indeed tangible, or just images in his head. Despite this, Banquo requests a prophecy too, "Speak then tome, who neither beg nor fear / Your favours nor your hate". The witches, conscience of the natural character flaws of men, speak in contradictions to confuse Banquo, telling him that his off-spring will be the future Kings of Scotland. With Banquo now involved in the witches' plot, this ultimately leads to his death by order of the greedy Macbeth who is now his closest friend, but later sees him as a problem in taking over Scotland as his children will be Kings. After they leave, Banquo considers the prophecies as a joke, whereas Macbeth says, "Stay you imperfect speakers, tell me more.", meaning they haven't told him all he needs to know.
Macbeth reacts to these prophecies by writing a letter to his wife Lady Macbeth, telling her of them and that she may be the future queen of Scotland: "Glamis thou art, and Cawdor shalt be." Lady Macbeth reacts to this by calling upon Evil spirits to rid her of her feminine weaknesses:
"Come you spirits,
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty; make thick my blood,
Stop up th' access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
Th' effect and it. Come to my woman's breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers."
This is saying that the spirits should take possession of her body so that she is mentally stronger in the evil deed she is about to perform, in doing so actually stronger than Macbeth himself. Evil spirits usually have to wait for a human body to willingly accept possession before entering.
In Act 3 Scene 5, with Hecate (who appears to be the Lord of the Witches), she condemns the witches for not consulting her about the Macbeth plot. Hecate believes that the witches were not powerful enough to control Macbeth referring to them as "wayward sisters", meaning that they aren't committed to witchcraft.
Later in Act Four: Scene One, Macbeth meets the witches for the second time, and he DEMANDS his future from them: "Even till destruction sicken; answer me / To what I ask you." This shows that the witches have a tight hold over Macbeth, and he is desperate to hear his future, giving them complete control. They then allow him to hear his future from the witches' masters, followed by three apparitions. The first was "Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth, beware MacDuff." MacDuff, The Thane of Fife, will later play a key role in the fate of Macbeth as the witches predicted. The second apparition was that no man born of woman may harm Macbeth. This naturally boosted Macbeth's ego to a point of overconfidence, making him feel invincible. The third and final apparition is that Macbeth shall not be defeated until Great Birnam Wood woukd march on to high Dunsinane Hill. Macbeth is sceptical of this, saying: "That will never be. / Who can impress the forest, bid the tree". After the witches fail to satisfy Macbeth, he curses them, and they show him a line of ten kings, all the decendants of Banquo.
The witches play the most important role in the Macbeth, shaping his fate as they see fit. Every word they speak has some relevance to Macbeth's future, with a hidden meaning behind each. I believe that if not for the witches, Macbeth would be a rather dull play as they create atmosphere and tension which made it popular in 1606. In my opinion, they only predicted the future once, when they told Macbeth he would be Thane of Cawdor. The other 'prophecies' were implanted in Macbeth's head, and the natural human evil within him performed the treacherous deeds. An example is that he killed Duncan and proclaimed himself king, but not earnt. The reason the witches chose Macbeth was they knew of his ambitions and he could be easily manipulated with the thought of power.
William Shakespeare wrote Macbeth because James I (who the play was written for) had a prior experience with his wife-by-proxy and Scottish Witches. On a journey from Denmark to Scotland, James' Wife's ship had to turn around because of bad weather believed to be caused by witches. When James I went to Denmark to return with her, the same bad weather halted their return. When they finally returned, a group of scottish witches were hung for their crimes.
In conclusion, the inclusion of the witches was relevant to the Audience and James I as it was a very strong belief at the time that Witches did indeed exist and were affecting their lives. This meant that the audience felt they related to the play in some way, and James I's interest in the matter made in very relevant.