Shakespeare
succeeds in making the witches appear absolutely vile in manner and
personality. In Act 1 Scene 3, the witches meet once again and ask about one
another’s day. One has been killing swine, another has full control of the winds
and the fate of the husband whose wife was rude to her. Their power is in
threes, “Thrice to thine and thrice to mine/ And
thrice again, to make up nine./ Peace! The charm’s wound up.” They rely on the
power of three times three times three in order to fulfill their charms. Three
is a very magical number in most of Shakespearean plays. When the witches come
together, they are most powerful.
When Macbeth arrives onto the witch’s
territory, he says, “So
foul and fair a day I have not seen,” a reflection of what the witches had said
earlier about how fair is foul and foul is fair. Their powers extend to affect
other’s reality. Banquo describes them as being not of this earth, of seeming
barely alive and not feminine in the least due to their unlady-like beards.
They all
greet Macbeth in ways that predict what will become of him in the future. They
don’t even give him the choice as to whether or not he wants to know his
future. They just say it simply because they have fun messing with people’s
minds. They speak in riddles when they say of Banquo that he will be lesser
than Macbeth and greater, and not as happy as Macbeth, but happier. They are very
fun characters and they at times control other’s lives without actually using their
mystical powers but rather by playing with the minds of others.
2 comments:
I really like your final point here about the Witches having a kind of rhetorical power over Macbeth. Their spells are not so much black magic as tricks of language. As we explored in our first class on the play, this language is markedly different from the speech of Macbeth and Duncan (at least at first). I think it's marvelous that Shakespeare gives us characters whose power is derived from their ability with words!
I really enjoy this commentary on Macbeth. I think the witch sisters are definitely characters that I would love to further explore in some way, simply because they have such control in the play despite not even really being involved in any or the primary issues at hand. I really liked your point about their power being in threes as well, and the reference to three being a magic number. I hadn't made that connection before but it's very intriguing.
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