The first scene of Macbeth also helped a lot to set the whole mood of the play, letting the audience see what was ahead of them for instance, the audience can obviously tell this won’t be a comedy or such like.
The horror and is brought out in the witches for the audience by certain small aspects which add the extra affect, like the thunder in the background which explodes with terror and wickedness.
Act 1 scene 3 is yet another vital part of the play, it’s fairly longer and more detailed than the first scene, and discusses the witches’ happenings since they last met together. Once again they are assembled in the marshland with the backing affect of thunder. Their actions, or what they say, also contribute to this mood, they have all been committing frightening and evil deeds.
This scene is where the queries begin to arise, as the witches cannot be in Macbeth’s mind as Banqou also sees the witches himself. He describes them as – ‘So withered and so wild in attire, that look not like the inhabitants of the earth’ and ‘you should be women, and yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so…’ He says that though they should be women, they are so ugly and withered that they shouldn’t be and he can’t see them as women, Banquo definitely sees the witches, they are not a product of Macbeth’s imagination, driven by his wild and somewhat unwise ambition to rule.
Overall, the biggest influence the witches have on Macbeth is certainly the apparitions and predictions, which they create. The three predictions made initially by the witches for Macbeth change the course of the play, and are the basis for the whole storyline on the whole. These predictions push Macbeth to murder Duncan, Banquo and eventually they even kill him. They predict for Macbeth to become Thane of Glamis – this is his current title. However their next prediction is a little bigger - They predict Macbeth will become the Thane of Cawdor, when to Macbeth’s knowledge, the Thane of Cawdor still lives. And finally, the third prediction seems impossible – Macbeth will become King of Scotland. Little does he know, each of these predictions eventually comes true, no matter what it takes to do it.
In my opinion, the witches are the largest supernatural influence towards Macbeth. They do not seem to appear in many seems, and appearances are kept to a minimum, however the audience continuously has them in their mind, knowing that they’re there. They predict the future, send chills through the audience and change our beloved Macbeth into an almost emotionless and bitter man.
The first key scene, linking the supernatural to the characters properly, without the influence of the witches occurs in Act 3 Scene 4. This is the scene where the ghost of Banquo returns to haunt Macbeth at Macbeth’s Dinner Party. However, only Macbeth can see the ghost and this leads onto the question about whether the ghost is merely Macbeth’s guilty conscience catching up with him, or whether the ghost appears to Macbeth and hides itself from everyone else in the room. Personally I would see it as his conscience and guilt coming through to show the audience he vast variety of emotions that Macbeth must be feeling.
Macbeth is obviously terrified by the ghost. This is shown when he speaks to it, and says ‘What man dare, I dare: Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, The arm’d rhinoceros, or the Hyrcan tiger; take any shape but that…’. He shows his fear of the apparition here, saying that he would rather face a Russian Bear, a rhinoceros or a Hyrcan tiger than the apparition. The audience can visibly see that this is in fact real fear and concern coming through the normally such strong character. If the ghost, however, is Macbeth’s conscience then it shows how Macbeth is beginning to crack and this could also signal the beginning of the end for Macbeth, as after this he decides to visit the witches.
Act 4 Scene 1 is the last time we see the witches in the play and that they have the chance to influence Macbeth. At the opening of the scene, the witches are making a potion, using hideous ingredients, such as the liver of a Jew, baboon’s blood and the nose of a Turk. These ingredients are disgusting, reinforcing just how evil the witches are.
