In the first scene (act1 scene1) Shakespeare uses the witches to open the play. When the witches say
‘Fair is foul and foul is fair,
Hover thought the filthy air.’ (1,1) Line11
The audience knows it will going to be hard to tell the difference between good and evil. When the third witch says
‘There to meet Macbeth’ (1,1) line 8
You also know that they will be meeting Macbeth and show him evil and will tell us his future.
In act 1, scene 3; the scene starts off with a witch describing how she will punish a sailor because his wife would not give her any chestnuts. A witch is trying to put a storm on the ship and when James was travelling by ship storm and almost shipwrecks them; Shakespeare is referring to this. The witches describe the sailor as a ‘rat’ then the third witch says
‘A drum, a drum!
Macbeth doth come’ (1,3) line 29
Which introduces his entrance on stage and shows they can tell the future.
When Macbeth enters he is with Banquo. Macbeth says
‘So foul and fair a day I have not seen’
Which means there was a foul battle (bad) and fair because they won the battle. This demonstrates a connection to the witches because this is similar to what they said at the start of the play.
‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair’ (1,1) line 11
Banquo describes them as not being on earth
‘That look not like th’inhabitants o’th’ earth…
…That man may question’ (1,3) line 41
They say a prediction for Banquo and Macbeth, they greet Macbeth as Thane of Cawdor and then hail him has king. As soon as Macbeth hears this he is shocked and amazed to hear that he has just been called king. Then the witches turn to Banquo and say his prediction. They say that his sons will be kings. Macbeth hears this and starts to get worried so he asks for more information but they disappear into thin air. This scene creates an atmosphere of evil and greed. We now have a feeling that Macbeth is going from good to evil because as soon as he hears that he is going to be king his mind turns to. As soon as the witches go Angus and Ross the kings’ noblemen come and give Macbeth a very important message
‘…Call thee thane of Cawdor’ (1,3,106)
This saying amazes Banquo and Macbeth. Macbeth uses imagery of him being dressed in the kings’ robes
‘…Why do you dress me borrowed robes?’ (1,3,108)
In a major soliloquy Macbeth thinks about murder and asks himself two questions. If what the witches said was good or if it was bad or was it true? Macbeth’s thoughts go directly to murder.
‘Why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair?
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature?
…My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,’ (1,3,134)
In scene four Macbeth and Banquo are with king Duncan. The king is about to make his son Malcolm heir to the throne. King Duncan also makes Macbeth Thane of Cawdor. Duncan says that he is like a plant that would grow and make him stronger and greater. This is ironic because he is growing into ambition to be king himself.
Macbeth writes to his beloved wife Lady Macbeth and when she receives it she wants Macbeth to king. Because Duncan is coming for a feast it is a good time to murder him. When Macbeth arrives Lady Macbeth him Macbeth everything but Macbeth does not want to kill Duncan and Lady Macbeth is shocked and starts to call him a coward. She has to convince Macbeth to kill him. Lady Macbeth wants to be queen so much that she calls on the spirits to fill her with evil:
‘Unsex me here…
…And fill me…
…Of direst cruelty…
…Come to me womens breasts…
…And take my milk for gall’ (1,5,40)
Later on in the play Macbeth changes his mind to kill Duncan and when he does he feels guilt but then he start to kill more people or tries to like Banquo.
Lady Macbeth turns to evil too. She calls on the spirits, which are connected to the witches. After the murder she keeps thinking that she has a spot on her hand, which could mean that she is turning into a witch and that she has the devil inside her. It could also refer to her guilt. The speck referring to the blood of Duncan on her hands.
In act four scenes four the witches are throwing disgusting things in a steaming pot like animals and bits of humans: ‘liver of blaspheming Jew’ and ‘finger of birth-strangled babe’. Here they are talking in rhymes that sound like a magic spell being chanted. This is the scene of the apparitions. The witches describes Macbeth ‘like some thing wicked comes this way’ you can tell that Macbeth is scared but he talk to them in a commanding way unlike at the start of the play ‘Speak if you can: what are you?’ and ‘How now you secret black and midnight hags!’
The first apparition is a head wearing armour and telling him to beware Macduff. The second apparition is a child covered in blood. It tells Macbeth that no one can harm him, ‘born of a woman’, but Macduff was ripped from his mothers’ womb so Macbeth decides to kill Macduff. The last apparition is a child wearing a crown and holding a branch from Birnam wood. In the future they show eight kings including James I that this part of the play is made just for him. And this is the last of the witches in the play. Straight after this scene Macbeth orders that Macduffs castle should be attacked. Lady Macduff and her children are murdered.
The language of the witches is very important it is nearly all in rhyming couplets with sort sentences and chanting. The witches use a lot of imagery and repetition.
‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair.
Hover though the fog and filthy air’ (1,1) line 11
They speak in unison like in act 4 scene 1 when the Macbeth has come to meet them.
1 witch: Speak
2 witch: Demand
3 witch: We’ll answer
1 witch: Say if th’hadst rather hear it from our mouths,
Or from our masters.
The witches’ language is full spitefulness, violence and grisly references to mutilation. They never tell lies but, because they speak in puzzling riddles, it is possible for Macbeth to hear only what he wants to hear.
The witches are an important feature in the play because of what they say because they speak as if they are the storytellers and they know what is going to happen. The witches are linked with Macbeth and lady Macbeth because they are both evil. They work for the devil. They create confusion and atmosphere of evil and a lot of chaos. There is a lot of confusion and riddles to solve, but the words that come out are the ones that Macbeth wants to hear.
In conclusion the witches are very important to play I think Shakespeare added them on to here to make the play stand out a lot more and make it more exciting and scarier to watch.
