Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Why are the witches in the play?
The inclusion of the witches at the beginning, middle and end of the play, provides a constant reminder to the audience of the supernatural elements that are present throughout the play. In addition as conventionally witches are associated with teh dark arts and being evil they add to the Gothic nature of the play. The sing-song manner in which the text is presented is hypnotic perhaps suggetsing that they hold a certain influence over Macbeth. The witches personify corruption aoing against nature and being women with beards, so when Macbeth asks for their advice in act VI this shows clearly to the audience/reader how he is progressively siding with evil. Their inclusion also questions Macbeth's motivation - is he simply a cold herated murderer, or is he being toyed with by greater forces? They are also included for dramatic purposes - their presence contrasts the generall naturalism of dialogue between charcters, as their speech is rythmical often rhyming and in the stage directions it describes how they 'dance'. There inclusion creates variety and is an example of surrealism which ensures teh audience's/readers interest is maintained.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I completely agree with everything you have written. Some things I didn't even think of :) I like your point about the fact that the different manner in which they speak (sing-song) suggests not only a certain influence over Macbeth because it is sort of hypnotic but also makes it stand out from the rest of the text, which makes it an emphasis on the surreal and the supernatural.
ReplyDeleteI really like the way you have said about the "sing song" way in which the text is delivered through the witches. Although i realised there was a certain melodic value to the way they speak I didn't once think about the effect it may have on both Macbeth and the audience. "Hypnotic" =] I like that.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the whole greater forces business too, obviously there must be a hierachy of power. Which is shown through the witches and Hecat. So who is above Hecat.
I like this,
Well done. =]
i like the idea of them having a hold over macbeth, this is interesting as sometimes it does seem as if he is in control but maybe he isnt always..
ReplyDeleteand i like the way you are question what and who macbeth really is :)
Good comments about the rhythm. Are they surreal figures? If they are then this is interesting, especially if you think of how surrealist art is concerned with the unconscious mind and dreams. Are they dream figures?
ReplyDelete