The Presentation of Witches in William Shakespeare's Macbeth

The Presentation of Witches in William Shakespeare's Macbeth

Act 1 Scene 1 gives us our first impressions of the Witches.

In Polanski and the stage play a definite atmosphere is created in the

opening scene, when the witches plan to meet Macbeth when the fighting

has finished and the battle is won.

The first line in the play, Act 1 Scene 1 Line 1, the first witch says

“when shall we three meet again?” I think the reason Shakespeare chose

this as his first line because it immediately lets the audience know

the three witches are plotting something.

The dramatic opening is very short but gets straight to the point. To

the witches what is good is evil as a result in act1 scene 1 line 11

‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair’ would seem like a warning that things

are not what they seem to be and this creates an uncertain atmosphere

again. The last line of the quotation is an example of alliteration

because Shakespeare imitates the thickness and filthiness of the fog

if not atmosphere by using words with f and th sounds. The reason

being for Shakespeare having thunder and lightning present when the

witches first entered as a stage direction in his play, “thunder and

lightning. Enter three witches”. Thunder and Lightning has long been

associated with evil because powerful forces are released and for many

centuries there was no explanation for it. The three witches always

speak as if plotting what to do to their next victim and are very

careful where they meet and that they are only seen by their victims.

This point is proved and undoubtedly obvious when they are only seen

in the play in unsociable hours.

In the Polanski version of Macb...

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...itches mainly for King James I and

also because many people in the audience in Victorian times would have

believed witches existed and had powers, so this intrigued both the

king and the audience into watching “Macbeth”. Because the king

believed that witches were evil and in league with the devil so did

the common people of England. In Victorian times most people obviously

believed that witches could do all sorts of things like disappear into

thin air, fly on broomsticks, cause bad weather or storms, make people

fall ill using spells and potions, and I think Shakespeare was just

elaborating how dangerous witches could really be and how they could

get you into all kinds of trouble. Shakespeare undoubtabely wrote the

play to make the king happy and to basically show just how dangerous

three female witches can really be.