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Aaron begins and gets into depth into his ‘argument/role’
The witches serve as a catalyst to Macbeth’s actions, while not directly taking part in the murder of King Duncan, or the planning of each murder after, without the assurance of his ascension to the throne Macbeth would have not acted upon his ambitions or greed.
Much of Scotland and parts of England believed that witches were the agents of the devil, making chaos in return for supernatural abilities. Macbeth is set further back again, where the populace would listen earnestly and take on what anybody said that was supposedly supernatural despite where it came from. This is made evident from Banquo’s and Macbeth’s first encounter with the witches, while the witches list of the prophesies surrounding Macbeth, instead of rebuking the legitimacy of each prophesy, he asks if they have anything for him. This is observed in lines 60 – 64 of act 1 scene 3:
‘That he seems rapt withal; to me you speak not:
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favours nor your hate’
An established fact of a tragic hero is they have one major flaw in an otherwise perfect character, in the case of Macbeth; his is greed and ambition, which doesn’t become apparent until Lady Macbeth appeals to his sense of masculinity, by in essence calling him a coward;
‘Which thou esteem’st the ornament of life,
And live a coward in thine own esteem,
Letting “I dare not” wait up “I would,”
Like the poor cat I’ the adage?’
Before this can happen though, the weird sisters have to present their prophesies to him which bolster his sense of being. At first, Macbeth is content to the play by the rules, expecting to be announced as the heir to the throne base off the prophesy, but after Malcolm is announced, he resorts to murder to fulfil his fate as told to him by the witches. Although, we find Macbeth wrestling with his subconscious, but is in the end spurred on by his wife’s words and the prophecies.
Further into the play, even though Macbeth’s demise is rather apparent, he seeks out the weird sisters trying to find something that says he’ll come out on top. He finds them in their hobble near Forres where he and Banquo first came across them. He finds them standing around the cauldron. In this scene it is made very apparent that the weird sisters are indeed withes, fitting every description known to the audience and the character Macbeth. Each witch is chanting incantations while throwing in various ingredients into the cauldron. Macbeth finds himself in a position seeking the help of the weird sisters, although they have never actually actively done anything in his world sphere except deliver prophesies, he believes that they’ll help him, this is made evident in the dialogue between him and the witches (act 4, scene 1 – lines 48 - 61)
Even after the apparitions and final prophesies that spell out Macbeth’s downfall he clings to the final one witch states he shall be killed by no-one of woman born and tries to prove the prophesies of defeat wrong. Again, the witches do nothing to compel him to do anything, but now his ego takes these words, ignores the obvious around him and believes that they mean him good and as such acts upon the words spoken to him.
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Ed discusses characterisation and uses relevant parts of the characterisation of the witches to further expand on his ‘role’.
The witches or the three weird sisters in Macbeth are constructed in a somewhat complex manner. The characterisation of the witches consists of many different aspects however; the main aspects through in which the witches are constructed are: dialogue, physical appearance, interactions with other characters and actions or behaviour. The physical appearance of the witches is quite an interesting convention used by Shakespeare in the construction of the witches. We are told of the witches’ appearances by Banquo who is a close friend of Macbeth. Upon seeing the three witches Banquo says,
“So withered and so wild in their attire
That look not like th’inhabitants o’th’earth
Choppy finger lying
Upon her skinny lips. You should be women
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret”.
The Weird Sisters are described as not even looking like women at all, rather like wild and unpleasant-looking creatures, just the way that the dark thoughts in the human consciousness are wild and unpleasant. In literature feminism is often represented in ways such as calm, caring, compassionate and loving. However the witches who are symbolic of the evil thoughts inside us, are portrayed as being unfeminine and hence epitomizing the dark thoughts as being non-caring, selfish and evil.
Another convention used in the characterisation of the witches is their dialogue. Throughout the entirety of the play the witches are one of the very few if not the only characters to speak in rhyme, for example:
“Show his eyes, and grieve his heart;
Come like shadows, so depart!”
This gives their speech the effect of an incantation and distinguishes it from the largely iambic speech of other characters.
The interactions between the witches and the other characters also play a part in the construction of the witches. The witches in the play do not directly interact with many other characters, the witches are very selective of who they speak to, which leads the audience to ask questions such as, “Why do they have such an interest in Macbeth”, as the witches do not appear often in the play to interact with other characters, scenes involving the witches are often filled with suspense and mystery, which in turn directly relates to the characters of the witches themselves. A notable point here is that witches speak in an abnormal manner directly relating to the abnormality of the subconscious dark thoughts inside each and every on of us.
The stage directions surrounding the witches are a key element to their characterisation. Shakespeare cleverly optimizes stage directions to emphasis the darkness and mysteriousness of the three weird sisters. For example at the very beginning of the play at the opening of the very first scene, the stage directions state: [Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches], from the stage directions it can be clearly seen that Shakespeare wished the witches to be seen in a negative light. Yet another example presents itself at the start of the scene 4, [Thunder. Enter the three Witches], we almost get a feeling as though the witches themselves are the lighting, because instead of the thunder and lighting the stage direction reads, “Thunder. Enter the three Witches.” The construction of the witches is a vital ingredient to their many roles in Macbeth.
- Aaron discusses the audience’s position and response, to the witches
The audience is positioned against the weird sisters, recognising their descriptions to they what they know about witches from the prominent Christian theory and the way they are constructed and portrayed in the play. The audience would be cautious, yet curious given the weird sisters way of speaking, given that all of their lines are given in a more poetic way compared to everyone else’s lines. The mystery comes from every encounter with the witches, ambiguous prophesies, odd weather phenomenon. Given Macbeth’s encounters the audience is made aware and weary of the prophesies, especially after the announcement of Malcolm’s eventual ascension to the throne, they know what it will entail for Macbeth to become king, and as such, begin to dislike the weird sisters, if they haven’t already.
- Aaron relates the witches to a theme
In the play, the witches are referred to as the weird sisters, and the word ‘weird’ is derived from the old English ‘wyrd’, which means fate. In society then and even now, people are obsessed with controlling the outcome of their lives, and seek anyway possible to change their fate, whether that being in the natural and supernatural. Now upon hearing these supernatural prophesies, his mind and body are spurred in the natural to change his, already favorable, fate trying to further his wealth and title, thus fuelling his greed and ambition; the flaw in his person.
- Aaron concludes the speech by ‘tying together the loose ends’ or bringing together both roles
In the play Macbeth, the role of the witches can be seen as a standard plot device that propels the story, with each word and action of the weird sisters fuelling that of Macbeth’s, but also that the sisters fulfill a more philosophical role, that the audience can analyze their own thoughts and desires, and that the weird sisters, aren’t that weird or different to the seemingly inherit evil thoughts in each persons mind.
