“ When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?”
“When the hurlyburly’s done
When the battle’s lost and won”
Where they are to meet again:
“Where the place?”
“Upon the heath”
They also know there are going to meet with Macbeth.
“There to meet with Macbeth”
We know the witches are in touch with the devil as they have familiars. Familiars - were said to be given to witches by the devil. A Witch could have several of them.
“I come Greymalkin”
Greymalkin was a cat, the 1st witches’s familiar. From the play we can see the 2nd witch also had a familiar by which she was in touch with devil. Paddock witch 2’s familiar was a toad.
“Paddock calls!”
A key theme first noted in this scene is the subversion of nature. Basically, this means that appearances can be deceiving. What appears to be good can be bad. The witches constantly like to change things around. This theme is continued throughout the play as we will see later.
A quote that suggests subversion of nature is:
"Fair is foul, foul is fair."
The form of transport they used is quite effective with the beliefs that were around in Shakespeare’s day. This suggests they can fly.
“Hover through the fog and filthy air.”
Polanski uses innovations with this scene such as the costumes of the witches and generations of the witches. In the Roman Polanski film version we think there to be three generations, a young lady, a woman around middle age and a very old woman. The costumes used are a nurse outfit from around 16th century for the middle aged, suggesting a sense of subversion and turning upside down of nature. The youngest one is dressed in rags. The eldest is wearing a skullcap, which would have been worn around the 17th century by a monk. The costumes used, suggest that the witches may be able to go through time. The eldest has skin over her eyes and therefore perhaps more in touch with her future telling abilities and the devil. Costumes are a symbol of equivocation telling us they are not what they seem.
The second scene we are focusing on is act 1 scene 3. The three witches enter on a heath this is because it is an eerie and isolated place. Again at the start of this scene there is thunder, which is connected with witchcraft.
In this scene we can see that their credentials as witches. In Shakespeare time there were many superstitions surrounding the hobbies of witches. They believed that if an animal died it occurred because of witches. Witches were believed to spend their time killing wild animals. The fact the witches of Macbeth have been up to this type of mischief makes them seem more rational.
First witch: “Where hast thou been, sister?”
Second witch: “Killing swine.”
The witches of Macbeth get up to more mischief in the form of tormenting others. They are fickle and irrational to events; the punishment given does not fit crime.
First witch: “A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap,
And mounch'd, and mounch'd, and mounch'd: —"Give me," quoth I:
"Aroint thee, witch!" the rump-fed ronyon cries”
Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the 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.”
They were surprised at the fact this lady was not afraid of them and because of this matter they torment her husband in vile ways. Also in Jacobean times there was a common believe that witches travelled in the sea in a sieve this adds fuel to this suggestion.
First witch: “I myself have all the other:
And the very ports they blow,
All the quarters that they know
I' the shipman's card.
I will drain him dry as hay:
Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his pent-house lid;
He shall live a man forbid
Weary seven-nights nine times nine
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine:
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tost. —“
The speech shows the consequences of messing with the witches. The first witch is saying that she will make him not be hydrated. She also is not allowing the man to sleep for 567 days. Also she enlightened us to the fact although she can torment him she cannot kill him. This shows they are potent but not omnipotent.
This scene was apt for the initial audience as it intrigued the man it was written for King James VI who had unusual interest in witches. James even wrote a book on it called Daemonology, which had an impact. Apparently having been somewhat paranoid, there were at least two occasions when James believed that witches posed a personal danger to him. He believed a group of men and women called the North Berwick Witches were plotting his downfall and shipwrecked him. He had this group punished on minimal evidence. By writing about the powers of the witches in Macbeth, William Shakespeare appealed to King James VI.
As the witches are not omnipotent they don’t have absolute control over Macbeth and his actions. Therefore although the witches offer great enticement, it is essentially the individual’s choice whether to fall or resist temptation. In relation to the acts of Macbeth, the witches are only responsible for planning the ideas in his head and not the murders and deeds he commits.
Banquo: “You should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interrupt that you are so”
This quote tells us that they may look androgynous and look both male and female.
Banquo: “ By each at once her choppy finger laying Upon her skinny lips”
This shows that they a have chapped skin and are repugnant looking
“wild attire”
This quote provides powerful imagery and tells us their clothing should look ragged.
The witches give him three prophecies planting ideas in his head although they can not be totally blamed for his actions to follow. They have malicious intentions and prophetic powers, which the readers can see, but Macbeth fails to realize until it becomes too late.
“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!”
These three prophecies introduce Macbeth to ideas of greatness. It was sometimes believed that witches could change natural order of things.
In Polanski’s version of this scene he uses a number innovations. The music being played on bagpipes is cacophony, mist coming. Polanski concentrates on their more natural side and instead makes them seem like evil women. Polanski also leaves out the speech about the sailor as he is trying to make it seem more natural than supernatural. Another aspect, which shows Polanski is focusing on their natural side, is the disappearance instead of vanishing they exist into their house.
In the film the older woman is rubbing cream on the younger one’s back suggesting skin ailment.
In act 4 scene 1 there are not the normal three witches, there are six suggesting a larger witch coven. There’s a cauldron and the witches are placing mystical ingredients in. In this scene the witches make a potion creating three apparitions each giving a prophecy.
The first apparition is one of an armed head. He speaks telling Macbeth to beware of Macduff this is a bit ironic as we now know that he is the one to kill Macbeth.
“Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff; Beware the Thane of Fife.”
The second apparition is of a bloody child. He tells Macbeth that none of woman birth can harm him. This leads Macbeth to believe that he is invincible. The witches half truths gives Macbeth a false sense of confidence.
“Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn The power of man, for none of woman born Shall harm Macbeth.”
The third and final prophecy comes from a child crowned with a tree in his hand. He tells him until the forest surrounds the castle he will not be defeated.
“Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be, until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill Shall come against him.”
Eight kings appear, and pass over in order, all of whom look like Banquo, the last holding a mirror to signify the reign of James I, the Stuart king for whom Shakespeare wrote this play.
Polanski’s description of this scene is different. The scene begins in a hovel type home, and there are many witches standing around the cauldron naked. This shows us although they represent evil forces they are still women. He keeps the atmosphere and tone close to that of Shakespeare but uses slight changes. Instead of the apparitions coming out, Macbeth willingly drinks the potion. Polanski is perhaps flirting with the idea that the apparitions or just hallucinations caused by the potion. His apparitions remain as reflections.
He highlights the insanity through the music used in this particular scene, the music is loud, screeching and not tuneful. The pit of Acheron is actually just the basement of a ruined building this shows they are more natural and not as evil as supernatural as they first appear to be.
In conclusion Shakespeare’s text frightened audiences of his day, although considered tame by todays standard, but Polanski intended a more eerie and more realistic view than offered by Shakespeare for todays audience. Although Polanski stays in context with the play, he adds innovations making the scenes natural and effective for a film. It shows the downfall of Macbeth, who at the start of the play we know is a highly honourable man who is loyal to his country. His downfall was because of one of his main traits, his ambition, as soon as the witches planted the ideas he had his head set on fulfilling the prophecies.
The witches are perhaps evil women who flirt with idea of someone’s downfall. Macbeth’s ambitions proceeded to be willing to take everything the witches said to be true, but he took the prophecies at face value. Notice they do not ask for anything in return so they may just be plotting for his flaws to weaken him and lead to his demise. Polanski’s description of the witches differs from the Jacobean time beliefs, he suggest that they are able to change Macbeths personality and that it is him who changes the occurrence of the play.
Polanski’s film ends in a note of irony. We see Donaldbain ridding across the heath and goes near to where we know Macbeth first met the witches, this suggest it may become a cycle and is to continue.
