Look closely at Act 1. Explore the effects of the supernatural and how the Elizabethan audience would respond to such evocations of witchcraft.
In the Elizabethan time period, religion played a huge part of societies everyday life, and witchcraft was a major part of the cultures belief, it was thought to be evil, and many people paid the price of death for others accusing them of being witches, so it was a delicate subject for the people of the time. ‘Macbeth’ focuses around this and uses the people’s beliefs to good effect, knowing that they would be drawn to the play and would easily be able to relate back to it, which is what made the tale so popular to begin with.
The opening scene sets up an early undercurrent to the whole play, and sets the scene, three witches, gathered around a cauldron, what could be more perfect to play on the minds of the people. The dark atmosphere, the mysteriousness is all around, an evil presence is all about, a spell is being cast on the soon to pass, unsuspecting Macbeth, the second witch begins to chant, ‘when the battle has been won and lost’ this evokes puzzlement and wonder amongst the audience, what does this mean, how is a battle to be won and lost, the audience is led to believe that this refers to a physical battle concerning Macbeth, but closer attention to detail would lead the audience into the mental battle that Macbeth must fight in his subconscious. The thunder and lightning alone give it a dramatic opening, which grabs the interest of the audience, as it is representative of evil. These dramatic sound effects help to set the eerie and supernatural atmosphere that Shakespeare wanted to create along with the witches, this now begins to explore the mind of the audience, seconds in and they have already been pulled into the play and want to learn more, always asking, ‘what is to come next?’ The witches do not say much at all, but the symbolic sense of evil is ever present and looming beneath the play.
