Whilst Macbeth is the play’s title character, it is the witches who appear on stage first, casting an impression of their malevolent control over the action which follows. In the first scene, Shakespeare presents the witches’ conversation about the battle and their plan to meet Macbeth – suggesting their omniscient knowledge about what is happening in Scotland, as well as their ability to accurately predict the future (they do find Macbeth where they planned in Act 1 Scene 3). The storm of the opening scene also indicates the witches’ power over the natural world, whilst the fog indicates that they will confuse Macbeth and make it impossible for him to see the righteous path he should follow.
Shakespeare encapsulates the witches’ ambiguous nature in the lines: “fair is foul and foul is fair: / Hover through the fog and filthy air”. The alliteration, trochaic tetrameter, repetition and full rhyme create the impression of a chant or a spell, whilst the words themselves mean that what appears to be good (“fair”) is actually evil (“foul”) – just as Macbeth will later put on an appearance of loyalty to Duncan whilst he is planning to murder him.
Following the description of the battle in Act 1 Scene 2, the witches reappear in Act 1 Scene 3, stopping Macbeth and Banquo on a wasteland setting. Shakespeare uses this location to symbolise how the witches exist outside of civilisation: they are wild, dangerous, and unknowable, living on the edges of human society. At this point, the witches give Macbeth three predictions: he will be Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and King of Scotland. They tell Banquo that his sons will be king, before disappearing “like bubbles” into the air. For an audience who would have been aware of King James’ I support for witch-hunting (see the “context” section on page 6), these witches would have been untrustworthy and deceptive. Yet one of their prophecies comes true almost immediately: messengers arrive to tell Macbeth that he has been made Thane of Cawdor. Banquo recognises that this may be part of the deception: “to win us to our harm, / The instruments of darkness tell us truths”. Banquo means that the witches have told them the truth in order to lead them to destruction (“harm”). It is notable that Shakespeare uses the phrase “instruments of darkness” here, to convey the idea that the witches are the tools of the devil – rather than being powerful in themselves.
The witches do not return until the end of Act 3 and the start of Act 4. As Act 3 draws to a close, Hecate – the goddess of witchcraft – appears to become involved in the witches’ plotting. Hecate promises to give Macbeth a false sense of security, providing further evidence that he is not acting out of free will, but is instead controlled by evil forces.
At the start of Act 4, Macbeth returns to visit the witches for a second time. Before he arrives, Shakespeare includes a section full of the activities we now associated with stereotypical witchcraft (a bubbling cauldron full of unspeakable ingredients, potions, chants and spells): this consolidates our impression that the witches are malevolent, evil, and powerful beings whose sole purpose is to toy with humanity. When Macbeth arrives, the witches raise apparitions to give him new prophecies: he should “beware Macduff”, cannot be killed by anyone born of woman, and will be safe until Birnam Wood moves. The last two seem impossible, and so they fill Macbeth with a misplaced sense of confidence. Then the witches torment Macbeth by showing him images of Banquo’s sons as Kings of Scotland.
Ultimately, Shakespeare uses these supernatural figures to cast a shadow of malevolence over the play. It is ambiguous whether Macbeth acts of his own free will or whether he is the victim of the supernatural. The debate between fate and free will in the play prompts the audience to consider the extent to which we control our own destinies.
Amy Smith Literature 