Analysis:
Stage
Thunder strikes and the three witches enter the stage, which has been set up to look like a cave.
There is a boiling pot in the centre.
Again, the setting of the scene highlights the evil intentions of the witches.
This is one of the most explicit and influential scenes of the play and it revolves around the three witches chanting a spell for Macbeth.
The ingredients they use to make the spell are sickening and hideous, like the witches themselves, who Macbeth (The King) has chosen as guides.
The most powerful of all evil entities is Hecate.
She chants with the other witches.
“By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes (IV, i, 59–60)”.
This rhyming couplet sets the stage for Macbeth who is coming to visit them.
Characterisation:
It is fascinating that Macbeth is referred to as a “wicked thing” then calling him by his name or by his status. Macbeth has become as vile and evil as the witches but he is oblivious to his downfall created by the witches.
Pre-fated theory
He is so naive, conceited and believes his status is powerful enough to let him command the witches as his trusted advisers, even though his greeting indicates (IV, i, 48-49)”.
“How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags! What is't you do?
As the witches direct Macbeth to their masters because of his demand for answers, the reader can see Macbeth’s arrogance, making him feel as if he was important enough to deal with the gods.
This is only implied. Macbeth doesn't
These disgusting images are the ingredients of the witches' spell. The language used shows the exploitation of innocence and vulnerability by the witches and this links in with the theme of the desire to bring all good things to evil. The imagery conjured up in the casts is one of pure evil. In the same scene the witches manipulate Macbeth by using three
In the other hand, some readers visualize Macbeth as a martyr that is controlled by
In the opening scene, the three witches appear on a heath amidst thunder and lightning, establishing the mood and emotion for the duration of the play. The witch’s use prophesies to awaken Macbeth’s ambition, a force in which presents him with unescapable circumstances. They also reveal crucial information about Macbeth’s future; however, his inner security causes him to neglect such knowledge. As a result, his actions promote his unstable state of mind which slowly deteriorates to his fate. Furthermore, the witches ultimately challenge Macbeth and the control over his humanity. To listen to the witches, is like eating "the insane root, That takes the reason prisoner" (Act 1, Scene 3 Lines 84-5); for Macbeth, in the moment of temptation. If not for the witch’s manipulative knowledge, Macbeth would be left to make his own decisions and possibly the ability avoid his unchecked ambition. As a whole the
Within Macbeth, there are three witches which are supposed sisters. These witches are very symbolic of demonic thoughts and actions. They consistently lurk among the side lines and implant a sense of negativity among the characters throughout the entire play. The use of their couplets displayed within the play also contributes to the whole idea of witchcraft. The most famous line within the play from the witches would “Double, double, toil and trouble, / Fire burn and cauldron bubble”. As the witches speak of a cauldron and fire burning, it is as if they are mentally preparing potions to perhaps bring disaster upon certain characters.
The dialogue the witches use create a harsh setting. The line “Hover through the fog and filthy air” (Line 12) create an eerie atmosphere.
The witches all chant and speak in rhyme and riddle , which is a traditional feature of a seventeenth century 'real' witch. There are three witches. The witches as well as being typical of 'real' witches in the seventeenth century are also disorderly and chaotic like dreams , they both do not keep to spatial reality or time, there are both blurry you never seem to see the full picture , they both show some connection to real life because the witches seem to show what Macbeth desires are and how he can get the, just like a fantasy dream might show what we want and desire. What Macbeth wants is more power and more power for him is to become the king and the witches just like our dreams would present us with what it would be like but the witches go further than dreams and tell him how he could obtain his desires. Both dreams and the witches are unrealistic, they do not conform to an ordinary structure.
then is revealed as being weak and easily manipulated. He then descends into become a murderous madman. one realizes Macbeth’s transformation into one of drama’s most infamous villains coincides with a profound transformation of his conscience—to a point where he has none at all. Throughout the play Macbeth makes a journey from following a moral ethic, implementing a flawed ethic, and arriving to a point where he had none at all.
In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is driven to believe he will be king according to the witchcraft of the evil witch sisters. The supernatural ability of the performed witchcraft has driven Macbeth to become o so arrogant. Macbeth is so interested in becoming king, he doesn’t notice the conning abilities performed by the witches.
Shakespeare uses the witches to illustrate the men’s inability to act on their belief, to create a substantial difference in strength and power the women have over the men. The witches guide Macbeth towards the path of becoming king, which illustrates Macbeth's fatal flaw for the first time in the story as he then proves the witches prophecy. This displays the witches power over Macbeth as he completes their prophecy. The witches utilize Macbeth to view their own superiority over men by the witches manipulating and persuading them. Shakespeare uses the rant made by Hecate, to embellish the witches’ actions against Macbeth as manipulative to prove their dominance and superiority over him. “ Saucy and overbold, how did you dare To trade and traffic with Macbeth In riddles and affairs of death, And I, the mistress of your charms, The close contriver of all harms, Was never called to bear my part, Or show the glory of our art?”
There are 3 apparitions that the witches give to Macbeth. Analyzing this scene before that apparitions show it up in front of Macbeth the witches say an incantation, a kind of ritual, “Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, Witches' mummy, maw and gulf Of the ravined salt-sea shark, Root of hemlock digged i' th' dark, Liver of blaspheming Jew, Gall of goat and slips of yew Slivered in the moon’s eclipse, Nose of Turk and Tartar’s lips, Finger of birth-strangled
The prophecies understood by the witches are the basis for Macbeth’s weakness of insecurity and in turn is one of the flaws which contribute to his downfall.
These witches appear several times throughout the play, each time saying ominous things and subsequently disappearing into thin air. In Act I they greet Macbeth and his friend Banquo following the greetings with a prophecy that Macbeth will be king, which prophecy sets the entire play into motion. (Act I Sc III) This trio of tricksters is meant to scare and discomfort an audience from an era in which witchcraft and curses were a real and common fear. However, just as much as they were meant to be scary, they are a level of fantastical that must just be laughed at.
In the play “Macbeth”, William Shakespeare uses belief in the existence and power of witches to create and influence the audience’s understanding of the play. Our initial impression of Macbeth is one of a brave and capable warrior, however once we see his interaction with the three “evil sisters” (Shakespeare, 1996) we realises that his physical audacity is coupled by an intense amount of ambition and self doubt. It is believed that the witches are the motive behind this ambition which eventually leads to his tragedy, however strong diverging arguments are in existence. The intensity of Macbeth’s tragedy is dependent on whether or not the witches are “professed to be able to control the naïve, innocent Macbeth” or whether he is to blame
In the story of Macbeth William Shakespeare reviews a story of a man named Macbeth who wanted to become King, he wanted so bad to be king that he went to the extremes of killing his cousin to get there. It all starts with a couple of witches that tell him that one day he will become the King. he soon starts to want that title so bad that he is willing to kill for it. When the time finally comes for Macbeth to be crowned King, he gets exactly what he wants a crown and a thrown. Months go by and even though his name is King Macbeth, it does not make him a noble ruler fit for the title of “King” as he is not loved and respected by the people he must rule over. Even though he has a castle he is not the person that should own the castle. “This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues.” (102) this quote shows just how much Macbeth’s people despise their ruler.
Macbeth is a character whose courage slowly transposed from good to evil. As the play began