The number of witches is significant because the number three was thought of as a magical number by the Jacobean’s.
The witches meet up to plan evil against Macbeth. They chose the right moment to approch Macbeth- When he was full of triumph of battle, and fresh from killing.
The witches use a language called antithesis.
“Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair”
These words appear to contradict eachother. It’s confusing and unsettling for the audience. The words introduce the idea of illusion and reality. But later on in the play we hear Macbeth echo these same words, this is his very first line. The witches words are in his mouth.
“When shall we three meet again?”
One witch was enough so three witches meeting up would have a horrible effect on the Jacobean audience. Throughout centeries it was belived three was a magical number. This makes the play more frightening but more realistic.
“Hover through the filthy air”
Jacobean’s belived that witches could fly so this adds more realism into the play
“There we meet with Macbeth”
This shows that the witches are the first people to say Macbeths’ name this associates Macbeth with evil. You can see an immediate connection between Macbeth and the witches. The witches meet Macbethat the right moment, when he is fresh from killing and full of triumph.
“Upon the heath”
This is a place out of the way where no one would go. No one would disturb them if they were in the middle of casting a spell.
“I come Graymalkin”
A Graymalkin is a “Familiar” (An evil spirit in animal form) these are used to help the witches carry out there plans or they give signals when the right time is to cast a spell. A familiar is a disgusting creature that we assosiate with the dark e.g A toad or a cat.
In this scene you can actually see how evil the witches are.
“A saliors wife had chestnuts in her lap. And munch’d and munch’d, ‘Give me’ quoth I. ‘Aroint thee, witch’ ,the rump-fed runnion cries. Her husband to Aleppo gone, o’th’Tiger:
But in a sieve i’ll thither sail,
And like a rat without a tail,
I’ll do, I’ll do and I’ll do.
The sailor’s wife with the chestnuts told the witch to get away and because it was belived by Jacobean’s that witches couldn’t kill humans, the witch had tired the sailor out by having sex wih him. The witch made the ship sink by using bad weather and he made the witches sisters help. The witches have a very strong bond. This justs shows how evil the witches are. The witches referred back to the plague. “And like a rat without a tail”. Shakespere used direct speech for the witch. It got acted out by one witch to make out hat it was real. Shakespere used stuff that was top headline in the newspapers at the time shakespere wrote the play. He used the ship o’th’Tiger this was a ship that sunk as shakespere wrote his play so he he put it in his play to make it more realistic for the Jacobean’s.
Shakespere mixes fact and fiction together this makes it more beliveable and might marish for the audience. He uses the o’th’Tiger in his play thuis is part of the contrast of fact and fiction. The ship sunk as Macbeth wrote the play, so that is why macbeth uses it in his play. Everyone would have known about the ship so that makes it more beliveable for the audience. The witches were believed to be able to see into the future, this is supernatural. In the play Macbeth gets told he will be Thane of Cawdor and Thane of Glamis by the witches- this just shows how powerful they are.
The significance of Macbeths first words are that the witches have already said them it’s like Macbeth is echoing there words. The witches words are in his mouth.
We now associate Macbeth with the witches and their evil. This echo introduces the idea of a propecy and promts the question: Is Macbeth in control of his own destiny?
Macbeth and Banquo’s descritio n of the witches is:
“How far is’t called to forres? What are these, so wither’d and so wild in their attire, That look not like th’inabitants o’th’earth, And yet are on’t?- Live you, or are you aught that man may question? You seem to understand me, By each at once her choppy finger laying upon her skinny lips; you should be woman, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so”
This is what Banquo says about the witches. He questions them. H e asks them wether they are dead or alive and he asks that are they humans that they live on this earth and asks can they understand him. He is trying to take control of them. The minute Banquo sets eyes on the witches the convosation changes. Banquo says that the witches have long boney fingers. Shakespere enthesises that the witches are so different to all human beings. Shakespere describes the witches in great detail. It paints a image of them in our minds. You can hes not a modern director.
Macbeth says to the witches:
“speak if you can: what are you?”
Macbeth is already trying to control them. Macbeth is confused and unsure of what they are.
The witches predictions have a huge impact on Macbeth and Banquo. The witches predictions are:
“All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis.”
“All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor.”
“All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter.”
Macbeth and Banquo are really shocked at these predictions. They know that there are two kings on the thrones and they are doin great jobs. Then they both start asking loads of questions this adds to the confusion. Banquo doesnt even know if they are real. Macbeth and Banquo are really shocked and Macbeth thinks that he can control the witches. Then the witches go on and tell Baquo that his children will be kings. Then Macbeth tries to command them again. So to show him that they dont get commanded they disappear. When the first prediction comes true then thats when the evil starts to happen. The evil steps into place the second the first prediction comes true because from there Macbeth’s ambition takes over. So now that we know that the first prophecy has come true. Macbeth has immediate proof that the witches know the truth. They’ve got him- Macbeth is under the witches spell. From now on, their words will always be in his thoughts. We only see them once more, but the witches are always present in Macbeths mind.
In Act 4 Scene at the witches' haunt, the weird sisters and Hecate are busy preparing the potion that will bring about Macbeth's ruin. Macbeth enters and asks to speak to the witches' masters about the future. An apparition takes the form of a helmeted head and tells Macbeth to beware the Thane of Fife (Macduff). A second specter appears in the form of a bloody child. It tells Macbeth to be brave because "none of woman born" can kill him. Then, a third spirit emerges in the form of a crowned child with a tree in its hand. It tells Macbeth that he shall never be vanquished until the Great Birnam Wood travels to high Dunsinane Hill. Macbeth becomes relieved, because he laughs at the idea of trees moving. As a final question, Macbeth asks the witches if Banquo's sons will ever reign in Scotland. Eight ghosts with crowns emerge, who represent the future sons of Banquo. Banquo himself appears at the end of the line with a mirror, thus implying an infinite number of descendants. Stupefied, Macbeth cannot believe his eyes and is angered to realize that despite all of his work, he wears a "fruitless crown." The witches disappear and Lennox enters the haunt. He informs Macbeth that Macduff has run off to England. Macbeth decides that he must act out all of his thoughts and impulses. He determines to kill Macduff's wife and children as his first step of revenge.
Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. These lines are two of the most famous in all of Shakespeare's works. Interestingly, the chants of the Weird Sisters are not written in Shakespeare's primary meter, , but in a rapid meter called . Most of Shakespeare's enchanted verse is written in trochaic tetrameter.
As the chanting went on with the sisters more gruesome things got thrown into the cauldron. The ingredients start fairly small and gradually get bigger and harder to find. It starts off with the witches throwing poisoned entrails in and ends up with them throwing a gut of a starving shark or a dragon scale.
The witches know something evil is on its way to knock at there door. The second witch say:
“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes, Open locks, whoever knocks”
And guess who it is Macbeth. The witches made this evil potion because they knew that something evil was on its way. Its like they were expecting Macbeth to come and they seem quite excited about it as well.
When the consequences of the murders of Duncan and Banquo are too much for him to handle, his primal instinct is to go back to the witches. They are now his only hope. It is an admission that he cannot control things any longer and from this point on in the play we just know he is going to die.
He returns to the witches because they are his last straw. They are now his only hope. He has been hit by what the consequences could be for murdering Duncan and Banquo. He has gone back to seek advice and help from the witches. He doesn’t know what to do next with his life. His life has been destroyed by evil and ambition combined.
Macbeth again tries to control the witches he is commanding them to answer his questions:
“How now you secret, black and midnight hags! What is’t you do?”
“Tell me, thou unknown power”
He is trying to control them he tries to question them and overpower them. In the end the witches disappear because they don’t like being commanded by anyone.
Macbeth must be scared and confused in which the way the witches talk to him he asks them question and they give confusing and mysterious answers like:
“A deed without a name”
The three apparitions in Macbeth show:
The first is an armed head, summoned to warn Macbeth that Macduff is coming back to Scotland to ruin him. The second apparition is a bloody child and it tells Macbeth that no man born of a woman can do him harm. This gives Macbeth great confidence: "Then live Macduff: what need I fear of thee?”. The third apparition is that of a child wearing a crown and holding a tree. It declares:
Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him.
Macbeth is secure that the third apparition's prophecy will never be, for 'who can impress the forest?' or 'bid the tree unfix his earth-bound roots?’
Macbeth is misled by these apparitions he gets cocky and things no harm will come to him because he thinks that no one woman can live and that the Forrest cant move the only one that he is scared about is the third one where he is told that Banquo’s kids will be kings.
There was no need to kill Mcduff’s family Macbeth just got cocky. Macbeth thought he owned the world when he got told no woman born could harm him. At the beginning of the play Macbeth got compared to a brave and noble man, but at the end he is described as a butcher because he just killed living things for no purpose. He done it out of pure evil it weren’t even his family that he killed he killed his castle and everybody in it even his animals.
In conclusion to this I think that by using the roles of the witches give off a nightmarish and evilness into the play. The witches were horrible characters. They just destroyed Macbeth’s life. I don’t think that Macbeth was in charge of his own life. I think that Macbeth’s destiny lay in the hands of the witches from the beginning of the play to the end of the play. So overall I think the witches did give off an evil sense.
