Magic, Midsummer, & Macbeth

The witches of Macbeth beguile not only the title character but Shakespeare’s original and modern audiences.  They are arguably one of the most celebrated aspects of this tragedy.  Their often rhyming lines, sing-song phrases, and fantastical descriptions of their magic make them memorable and mystifying.  There is something about Hecate and her followers that transform this play into something more than a drama about power, kingship, and control.  Shakespeare’s inclusion of supernatural forces gives this story a larger scale and makes it appear grander because of the mysterious witches that know so much.  As one reads their famous “Double, double, toil and trouble,/ Fire burn, and cauldron bubble” speech, it is impossible not to get into a musical pattern because of Shakespeare’s skill in writing the contents of the cauldron (4.1.10-11).  While reading this act, I could not help but notice similarities between Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  This is an interesting pairing, as one is definitely a tragedy and the other a comedy, but both maintain an element of whimsy and supernatural, although in completely separate ways.  A Midsummer was first performed around the year 1595 and Macbeth was originally performed in 1606.  Perhaps Shakespeare is acknowledging his fairy comedy again, eleven years later, by inserting elements found in A Midsummer into the witches scene of Macbeth.  Hecate states in 4.1 something that easily could be read in A Midsummer: “And now about the cauldron sing/ Like elves and fairies in a ring,/ Enchanting all that you put in” (lines 41-43). Shakespeare is conceivably adopting elements of his original fanciful play into this tragic drama because it did so well with the audience in 1595.  There are obviously no cauldrons present in A Midsummer, but fairies do play a significant role in the comedy and it would be easy to imagine Titania stating Hecate’s line, although in a somewhat different manner.  A more apparent relation between these two plays is the mention of spirits named “Puckey,” and “Robin,”: “Firedrake, Puckey, make it lucky;/ Liard, Robin, you must bob in” (4.1.47-48).  Anyone who has read A Midsummer Night’s Dream knows of the famous Robin Goodfellow, also known as Puck or a puck, the magical imp henchman to Oberon.  I do not know the history of Elizabethan folklore, but I like to think Shakespeare is creating unity between the two dramas.  Using the name of a key character of his earlier play and attaching it to a spirit in Macbeth shows genius. Interestingly, a fairy does call Puck in A Midsummer, a “hobgoblin” which may relate to the goblin-like witches of Macbeth (2.1.40). 

            What caused me to draw this parallel between these plays was the Spirit’s and Hecate’s song in 3.5 that is remarkably similar to a fairy’s in A Midsummer.  They sing “Over woods, high rocks and mountains,/ Over seas and misty fountains,/ Over steeples, towers and turrets,/ We fly by night ‘mongst troops of spirits” (3.5.62-65).  This is amazingly akin to Fairy’s 2.1 speech when Robin asks how the fairy is and the reply is: “Over hill, over dale, Thorough bush, thorough brier, / Over park, over pale,/ Thorough flood, thorough fire:/ I do wander everywhere (1.2.2-6).  The repetition of the word “over” and the spirits and fairy both singing of flying and wandering high above all the earth is so alike.  Shakespeare had to have been aware of the similarity and maybe recycled the same notion because it gives the witches a sense of other worldliness that the fairy encapsulates in A Midsummer.  Both sections are also very catchy and would be great for an actor to recite with passion in front of an audience. 

            Finally, the speeches made by the witches and Titania regarding the gathering of materials is alike, yet different and appropriate for their genres.  In A Midsummer, the fairy queen tells her fairy followers to “feed [Bottom] with apricots and dewberries,/ With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;/ the honeybags steal from the humble-bees/… And pluck the wings from painted butterflies/ To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes” (3.1.148-150, 154-155).  This segment has a pastoral, light, and magical quality to it.  In Macbeth, however, the thrilling descriptions get darker: “Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,/ Witches’ mummy, maw and gulf/ Of the ravined salt-sea shark,/ Root of hemlock digged i’th’ dark,/ Liver of blaspheming Jew…” (4.1.22-26).   These ingredients are sinister and cast an entirely different mood over the scene as compared to Titania’s scene.  The gloom created by the witches plays well with Macbeth’s twisted, evil character.  The characters in A Midsummer are more concerned with love and therefore have lighter objects in their list.  It would be interesting to research and compare the supernatural characters of Macbeth to that of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Shakespeare’s frequent use of the supernatural tells what the Elizabethan theatre audience found enticing and what he thought made for great drama, whether comedy or tragedy.

The Supernatural in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth

For my Teaching English in the Secondary School class here at New Paltz, I’m constructing a unit plan centered on Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In doing so, I’ve had to beat Macbeth to death, analyzing many aspects which I’ve had to include in my lesson plans. Since Macbeth is ever on my mind, while reading the first act of Hamlet, I noticed a parallel between the two plays that I couldn’t deny: the presence of supernatural beings play a large role in their respective plots. I found the connection very interesting, so much so that I’ve been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to blog about it. Of course, after doing a bit of research online, I quickly realized I certainly wasn’t the only one—let alone the first—to make this connection. Nevertheless, I’ll proceed to highlight it here, continuing my trend of scholar-supported propositions.

In Macbeth, Macbeth and his friend Banquo encounter the three “weird sisters” in Act I, scene iii, on their way to a heath. Though challenged by Banquo at first, the Witches proceed to hail Macbeth, the “Thane of Glamis,” “Thane of Cawdor,” and “king hereafter” (I.iii.46–48). These words that “sound so fair” are pondered by Macbeth, who becomes obsessed with the notion of his kingship. As we all know, this obsession sparked by the Witches’ prophecy consumes Macbeth, and his actions following his meeting with them are all made with the intent of making those prophecies come true. Had it not been for the almost ghost-like Witches to appear, Macbeth might never have pursued the throne, at least in the manner of taking it upon himself. Unlike Hamlet’s Ghost, who merely wants his death avenged, the Witches harbor seemingly unconditional ill intent for Macbeth; therefore, though sharing similarities, the two supernatural beings serve rather different roles in their respective plays.

In Hamlet’s opening act, the officers Bernardo and Marcellus inform Horatio, Hamlet’s friend, of a “dreaded sight… [an] apparition” in the form of Hamlet’s father, the dead King Hamlet (I.i.23, 26). After Horatio, who at first doubted the sight, sees the Ghost, he informs Hamlet of “a figure like [his] father” (I.ii.199). Hamlet himself encounters the Ghost in scene iv, where it proceeds to persuade him into taking action against a situation he is already uncomfortable with: the Ghost incites Hamlet to take revenge on his father’s death by killing King Claudius, his uncle, who is currently married to his mother, Gertrude. What’s notable about this encounter is that, unlike in Macbeth, the Ghost does not divulge a vague prophecy left to interpretation but, rather, it proposes a specific direction. This explicit direction serves as the impetus for Hamlet’s ensuing actions, whereas in Macbeth, Macbeth’s actions are a result of his own ambitions and desire to proactively fulfill the witches’ prediction. Hamlet wishes only to fulfill the ghost’s desire to have his death avenged. (I’d argue that Hamlet’s actions in avenging his father’s death are not completely self-serving but are primarily for his father’s sake.) Whereas Hamlet’s Ghost guides the play’s protagonist toward a (reasonably) morally just outcome, Macbeth’s Witches guide its protagonist to an immoral journey to kingship, one that ultimately fails miserably. Though Hamlet “fails” in that he doesn’t survive at the end of his play, we, the audience, sympathize with his character because we are more apt to feel for his cause. Macbeth and the Witches are characters for whom we tend to feel less sorry, as the Witches are malicious and Macbeth is overly ambitious.

Another interesting connection between these two plays is the circumstances in which the supernatural beings appear. In Macbeth, the Witches appear on a day “so foul and fair,” in Macbeth’s opinion, as he’s ever seen (I.iii.37). Such an observation indicates that, though it might be a pleasant day so far, there is an inexplicable foulness about it, and it serves as the foreshadowing of upcoming events that do indeed prove quite foul. In Hamlet, a similar sentiment is uttered by Marcellus in the famous line, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark,” noting that things are quite obviously amiss (I.iv.67). The whole atmosphere of both plays seems tense with the possibility of dark moments to come; as the play progress, those moments come true. It only goes to show how closely the supernatural beings are tied to the overall instability of the environment in which they haunt.

Coming to some closure, this observation of mine is merely a way of establishing a connection between two of Shakespeare’s plays we are/will be reading in class. As I read Hamlet further, I will look for more connections between the two, and depending on my findings, I might revisit the subject in a future blog post. For now, I encourage you (and myself) to be mindful of the supernatural and its effects in this play and in Macbeth when we read it later this semester. (For more information, check out this student’s Bachelor’s thesis; it gives a very thorough look into the subject: is.muni.cz/th/153037/pedf_b/Thesis_Jana.doc)

Why Witches?

I’m curious as to why witches play such a key role in the beginning of Macbeth. What is the relationship between their prophecy and Macbeth’s own ambition? And Lady Macbeth’s influence?

I would guess that the witches’ role in the story is to sort of unlock Macbeth’s inner ambition. While Lady Macbeth does not interact directly with the witches, she knows from Macbeth’s letter of their prophecy, and I would guess that the witches unlock ambition in her too.

Shakespeare is playing with human and inhuman sources of ambition. Every person goes through life with some amount of ambition, and some people do truly awful things to reach their ambitions. I’m not convinced that the witches in the play are real witches (I know they are supposed to vanish into thin air, but who knows, right?), so I’m wondering if the witches are kind of a sad “joke” or commentary on human ambition. Some people have to feel like a power greater than themselves has sealed their fate and led them to do terrible things. In other words, it’s apparently really easy to justify something by a made-up twisted logic if the supernatural is involved.

It’s really important to note that the witches never tell Macbeth how he will become King. It’s never implied that he is supposed to do so actively. How old is King Duncan? Old enough to die of old age soon? And Malcolm? He could be killed in another battle. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth decide that Duncan must be killed.

 I also interpret the witches as being a collective physical manifestation of ambition. That is to say, witches are traditionally thought of as ugly, and ambition can be very ugly too. I also think their paradoxes are a linguistic manifestation of ambition. Paradoxes can be confusing, just like ambition confuses your reasoning. They also have double meanings, of course, while ambition has a sort of double meaning—the chasing after whatever is desired and the consequences of getting it.

King Duncan says to Banquo after promoting him, “I have begun to plant thee and will labor to make thee full of growing” (1.4.29-30). I think this is a great allusion to the witches and to Lady Macbeth. They’ve all planted a sort of “seed” in Macbeth’s head (that he should kill the king). If this is the way to think about the witches and Lady Macbeth, then there’s also a sort of reverse fertilization/pregnancy metaphor going on here (maybe?), which is pretty fascinating. 

Final III: MACBETH

VIDEO CLIP

Sorry I'm not technologically advanced and have been waiting for my video to process for the last half and hour. So there is a link above that you can click to watch the video.

This video is a director's commentary about the play Macbeth. The director really raises some key points that I wanted to elaborate and question. There is mention of the witches and the role that they play. In his production, the director decided to make the witches mortal women that just happen be into witch craft. When I initially read the play I had it in my mind that the witches were associates of the devil and immortal beings. By the director purposely making these human women I began to wonder how much a person's thoughts and positive/negative energy can affect someone else. Society talks about karma and not wishing bad upon someone. But can negative energies, like these witches, really affect people? Or are people their own driver of their destiny? That also made me question how exactly did Shakespeare intend for the witches to be portrayed (mortal/immortal). If these women weren't witches would audiences still think they had some contribution in Macbeth's actions/fate?

But is Macbeth's fate really fate? It is the witches who first hint to Macbeth about the title of Cawdor and king. We as an audience already know at this point in the reading that King Duncan has chosen Macbeth for the thane title, nonetheless the status of king is not announced. Can knowing or the belief that you know your fate cause you to ultimately destroy it? For all we know maybe Macbeth would've ended up becoming King due to whatever circumstances, yet after hearing this fate he is so eager to obtain the title that Macbeth cannot let life run it's course.

Another thing that is touched upon is Macbeth's conscious. The director discusses how Macbeth tortures himself mentally over the murder of Duncan. It is not the first time he has killed someone but the previous ones can be justified. This idea of murdering with a conscious is very intriguing. I wonder how a character and even people today can be so selfish yet so aware of what they are doing. It also brings me back to The Merchant of Venice and Shylock. I wonder if Shylock was able to retrieve his debt from Antonio if he too would have a conscious afterwards. Feelings are different when the act is being construed and when it is all over and done with.

Double, Double Toil and Trouble

Believe it or not, I had no idea the rhyme “double, double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble” (Act 4, scene 1) came from this play! I always just assumed that it was something someone came up with around Halloween to creep everyone out! However, now knowing that Shakespeare was the originator of this rhyme, it is very fitting. This is my first time reading Macbeth, but I did see it performed once in middle school using only two actors and three students from the audience for the witches (honestly, that’s all I remember from that performance. I really don’t understand still how only two actors were used…). It is pretty amazing that Shakespeare’s depiction of witches stirring a cauldron and chanting this has survived through to our own time.

I can name several modern day films that use this phrase, all of them depicting witches. The first that comes to my mind, perhaps because it was the first one I remember seeing, was “Double Trouble,” starring the Olsen Twins (I could be wrong on the exact film title, it has been so long! Sorry!). There was a scene involving a woman dressed as a witch stirring a cauldron and saying these lines while the twins watched. Very creepy, especially for a kid.

The next, and probably best depiction of the typical, Halloween witch, comes from “Hocus Pocus.” Here there are three witches constantly trying to brew potions in the cauldron to suck the youth out of children for their own survival. While these witches use many of their own incantations, I generally picture Macbeth’s witches to look very similar.

A bit surprising, but in the third Harry Potter film, there is a scene toward the beginning, when they arrive at Hogwarts, with a bunch of the students singing a version of this (clipped attached). What is great about this is that every line in this song is from this scene in Macbeth! They even include the line “something wicked this way comes.” When I was reading this scene, in my head the entire time was the tune and rhythm of this song and it was kind of distracting due to the seriousness of the play at hand. Maybe the director’s idea behind using this song was to take away some of the scary effects it has on people? (I am unsure whether or not this song was created for this movie or existed beforehand). Regardless, Shakespeare is clearly using it as a means to frighten the reader/observer and maybe even to get the words stuck in their head.

I never really thought of Shakespeare as a horror writer before, but it may be possible to give him some of that credit in this play. I don’t believe that Europe has the same Halloween customs as we do in the United States (though they do have All Hallows eve, right?) but his influence on it is clear. I wonder if other people walk around on Halloween chanting those words not realizing their origin? This shows Shakespeare’s influence on our society even today. He seems to always crop up in the strangest places, which is great because, as a future educator, I can show my classes how he relates to and make connections with the modern times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lXrQI-jsEQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BbCrv28rJ4&feature=related