This was in an era where it was hard to tell where folklore ended and Christianity began. It was reported that peasant farmers would sprinkle their soil with a mixture of herbs, salt and other compounds, and say special prayers to make their crop more successful (this was needed, as in the years 1315 and –16 the crops failed). Many of these customs were documented, and were even included in the church worship.
Europe, at this time, is at the brink of chaos. Famine, disease, war and the Bubonic Plague ravages through the continent, and the aristocracy and peasants alike look to a scapegoat- Jews. Attending the Sabbath, and practising Judaism was seen to being allied with the devil. Jews were branded as witches, and forced to live on the edge of cities, in fear that they would be prosecuted.
As one can see, this fascination and history with witches would have an important role in how the play was seen by the audience (mainly James IV) and how the details of what the witches did in the play.
The first place in the play where the witches are seen is in fact in the very first scene of the play. They are meeting in a storm (witches are said to be able to produce these), and they plan to meet with Macbeth once the battle is over. The next place we see the witches is in I: iii, where they are meeting with Macbeth. They tell him that he will become the Thane of Cawdor, and then King of Scotland. Macbeth refuses to believe then, as is shown in I: iii: 71-75, where he tell them that he know that the Thane of Cawdor is alive and well. Banquo’s response to this, on the other hand is the he thinks the witches are intoxicated (I: iii: 84).
In II: I, Macbeth is determined to be king, and meets Banquo and his son (Fleance) in his castle. Macbeth realises in act 3 that Banquo and Fleance are needed to be murdered for Macbeth to remain in power, and he hires 3 murdered to kill them both. Fleance escapes, later to be forgotten by Shakespeare.
Much later in the play (IV: I), we are shown that Macbeth’s view of the witches has changed. He pays them a second visit, one that proves to secure his downfall. He demands that they tell him everything they know, as so far their prophecies have come true. The witches then conjure up three visions for Macbeth to see. The first that comes is a head with a helmet. It tells him:
“Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth beware Macduff;
Beware the Thane of Fife. –Dismiss me. – Enough”
This apparition clearly tells him to be frightful of Mcduff, but Macbeth clearly is not. The next vision that comes is a child covered in blood. It says:
“Be bloody bold and resolute: laugh to scorn
The power of man, for none of woman born Shall harm MacBeth.”
This apparition makes Macbeth belive his is invincible, as there is nobody who is “not of woman born”. The third and final vision appears, and this time it is a crowned baby, holding a tree. It tels them:
“Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care
Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are:
MacBeth shall never vanquished be, until
Great Birnham wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him.”
This adds to Macbeth’s sense of invincibility, as he doesn’t believe that the Great Birnham wood would move up the hill. This is proven false in V: v, where Macbeth is informed by a messenger that “as I did stand my watch upon the hill, I looked toward Birnam, and anon, methought, The wood began to move.”
Macbeth now realises that the apparitions’ prophecies are coming true. In scene 8 of that very act, Macbeth encounters Macduff, and they battle. Macbeth is told, before he is slain, that Macduff was born by Caesarean, therefore being ‘born of man’.
The withces played a large role in the plot, and this therefore states their importance. Macbeth does realise that the witches have being playing him, and this is stressed by what his says in V: viii: 19, “And be these juggling fiends no more be believed”
