witches / supernatural

Question 1

Witches represent the extent to how women have to go to in order to gain power in a patriarchal society == only attack men
– although sailors wife refuses to give witch chestnuts the husband gets punished

Answer 1

“Her husband to aleppo gone, master o’ the Tiger’
-she is powerless “like a rat without a tail”
-she knows he won’t be able to do anything at all as she repeats “I’ll do I’ll do i’ll do” – women have no power
-ref to King Jame’s boat being trapped in a storm and him believing it to have been a witch “ yet it shall be tempest-tost” – perhaps witches have no power at all as a tempest is a natural event
→ Shakespeare implicitly leads us to question if supernatural beliefs are fictitious (making fun of King James implicitly so leaves the question open ?)

Question 2

A1S1 “When the battles lost and won”

Answer 2

Paradoxical dialogue portrays witches as ambiguous - question power
Embodied in idea of battle : on one level battle won as macbeth defeated norway BUT on another level Macbeth’s victory led him to kill Duncan which leads to his own tragic downfall
Did witches meet to put a protective spell on an protective Macbeth who went into battle as he won without armour ? – however shakespeare leaves this open to us so he can explore LM and M’s psychological state

Question 3

hecate A3S5

-what does she do?

Answer 3

-chastises witches for not including her in M’s prophecies and that they must prepare potent spells to delude Macbeth

Question 4

What does hecate state that elimnates free will

Answer 4

‘artificial sprites shall spur Macbeth on’

‘security is morals chiefest enemy’

Question 5

what’s so interesting about Hecate

Answer 5

-associated w/ three paths and M needed directions not choices