Witches: Macbeth Flashcards
King James: Daemonologie
Literally translated to the science of demons. King James wrote this to prove that witches and witchcraft where in existence. Furthermore, he actually depicts that witches do the work of the devil in his book. Highlights his extensive interest in witchcraft.
Witches: catalyst
“Your face my thane is like a book”
The witches capitalise on the obvious intentions and ambition of Macbeth, as demonstrated through this simile. The witches can be argued to simply be a catalyst to Macbeth’s inevitable fulfilling of his ambition for power: his demise. Witches can be portrayed as a device in which Macbeth discovers his True character and extent of desire.
Witches: paradoxical phrases
“Lost and won” & “lesser than Macbeth and greater”
Shakespeare establishes the Witches as a source of chaos and disorder.
○ This is evident as their interference causes the reversal of order.
○ Things that shouldn’t be able to coexist begin to occur as the complex
riddles of the Witches come to fruition.
● Paradoxical phrases are often used by Shakespare, when the Witches are
speaking to demonstrate the ostensibly (seemingly true but not necessarily true) nature of their positive prophecies made to Macbeth.
Context: bible
They act as part of the fall of man, in causing him to succumb to temptation - like the serpent in the garden of Eden. The witches form an anti-trinity - as they always appear in a three they form a trinity of evil. This opposes and contradicts “one God in three divine Persons,”
Witches: trocháic tetrameter
“Fair is foul and foul is fair”
Usage of trocháic tetrameter
The oxymoronic language used by Shakespeare reflects Macbeth’s confusion in the audience, who would be similarly ambivalent towards the actual meaning of the prophecies, as they too cannot understand the oxymorons.
The use of fricatives in “foul and fair” emphasise a sense of forceful power and the monosyllabic words enhance the sense of the changing of a spell.
Deliberately employed by Shakespeare to establish malevolent power right at the beginning, so when Macbeth who says “so fair and foul a day”. The audience immediately links him, and therefore by extension his ambition to Evil.
Witches: pathetic fallacy
Stage direction : “ A desolate place: thunder and lighting. Enter three witches”
The use of thunder and lightning is deliberately, as it highlight the disruption of witches on the natural world.
Shakespeare deliberately employing the disruption of the macrocosm (nature) in order to highlight how the witches may potentially cast thought that will impact the microcosm (potential disruption of the world of man). This part of play structurally is significant, as Shakespeare establishes right at the start the witches malevolent nature to the audience, through their effect on nature. Displaying how they a catalyst for evil.
