The Animated Tales version of Macbeth directed by Serebryakov is a cartoon in which the witches are depicted as old hags dressed in rags. They are clothed in dark tones that suggest death and decay, indicating their dark and evil powers as well as the dark themes in the play. Dark colours are generally associated with the gothic and thus fit their stereotypical image. Their costume also looks weather beaten giving them a sense of timelessness and which makes it seem like the witches have survived many centuries and thus definitely inhuman. They are stereotypical witches however; they are still made to seem realistic as there is a lack of props such as broom sticks which would lead to them seeming more comical than unnatural. The witches also have a human like anatomy that through their strangeness still makes them seem realistic to a modern audience while also being quite similar to the setting and personalities of the witches in the original version. As the characters Banquo and Macbeth are from the Shakespearean era they are profoundly affect by the stereotypical witches.
In the Shakespearean era witches would normally have clichéd props such as broomsticks however modern directors have omitted these in favour of more symbolic props such as the spinning wheel incorporated by Kurosawa into Throne of Blood. The “evil spirit” continues to spin a spinning wheel throughout the scene and the turning of the wheel is almost mesmerizing and seems to indicate her hypnotic powers as she enthrals Macbeth with her insight into the future. The spinning wheel is also symbolic of the wheel of fate and the control she generates over it as she tells Macbeth of her foresight. This foresight is what leads to Macbeth murdering King Duncan and causes the disruption of natural order in the play. Had the “evil spirit” never told Macbeth of his future he would never have committed such a heinous crime.
In the Channel 4 Films version of Macbeth the props are the items carried by the witches that they seem to have scavenged from derelict ruins where they are standing. The scavenged items make the witches seem powerful because it makes the audience assume that the witches have destroyed the hamlet. However, as they are not actually shown destroying anything the witches are not shown doing any magic with wands or any tools that we might have imagined them to have. This is clever because it means they manage to look realistic without being stereotypically amusing.
In the Animated Tales the witches have only masks as props that they remove when they speak. These makes the words they speak seem more significant and seem to make the audience pay special attention to them. The Animated Tales is a cartoon, these are often considered juvenile and one might assume that this makes the witches seem more childish however the lack of other conventional props such as broomsticks make the cartoon seem more powerful.
One of the most important themes is the disruption of natural order in the play. In the narrative Macbeth disrupts natural order when he murders King Duncan, however order is eventually restored. Each director has used a different method to show symbolically that the witches have disturbed the natural order in the play.
The use of media has an imperative influence on the fluidity of the movements of the characters. The Animated Tales is a cartoon there by allowing the witches to fly and move fluidly. The fluidity of their movements suggests an inhuman quality leading to their appearance as unnatural being in the play which both shocks and engages the modern audience. The witches also use their eerie fluid movements to make an unusual entrance and exit. They fly into focus after appearing as mist and also exit by flying out of focus. This and their clearly inhuman anatomical features are an unexpected use of the cartoon media, which can easily replicate the uneasiness and terror that a Shakespearean version would on a Shakespearean audience. In the Throne of Blood version directed by Kurasawa the “evil spirit” is constantly moving the spinning wheel in a repetitive trance. This repetitive movement seems like a constant reminder to the audience of the presence of evil at hand, which continues to draw them into the narrative. This movement is disrupted when in an almost jerky movement the “evil spirit” disappears, this sudden movement shocks the audience and the break in the focus reminds them of the power of spirit wields.
However, in the Channel 4 modern version the witches have very human movements. This is because the play is aimed at a younger audience and the director seems to be more focussed on keeping the movements of the characters human so that the audience will take them seriously and not think of them as comical figures.
In the different versions of Macbeth the audience notice that the witches are unnatural because their entrance results in a change in weather. In the 1998 Royal Shakespeare Company version of Macbeth the three witches scream loudly in their shrill voices and their screaming seems to result in lightening. This suggests that the witches were able to manipulate the weather adding to their unnaturalness and making them seem powerful to the audience, as they have harnessed nature. In the original Shakespeare version the scene is described as “a desolate place” and both thunder and lightening are present. This is because Witches were only able to meet in bad weather when everyone else would be indoors; this is indicated by the line “When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightening, or in rain?” We see a similar setting in the Animated Tales version where at the entrance of the witches they laugh in a high-pitched voice, which leads to lightening and thunder. The witches appear in many different areas but the all of them are desolate, infrequently visited dark areas, similar to the dark persona of the witches. The scenes where we see the witches have dark tones that are unusual for an animated feature, which draws the attention of older audiences and makes it seem more serious giving it more depth then audiences may perceive it to have.
Along with being similar the use of the setting in the narratives also differs from version to version. In the Channel 4 films version the setting is desolate hamlet, which has been destroyed. At the introduction of the witches the audience find themselves blaming them for the devastation, yet the more fearful aspect of is that they seem so comfortable amid the destruction. Their involvement in the destruction signifies that they are a potent threat and to be alarmed about. There is a contrast between the two versions, while the Royal Shakespeare Company has a setting in thunder and lightening with possibility of rain the Channel 4 films version shows them among fire and though fire and rain are opposites they both manage to instil fear in the audience.