The Witches of Macbeth

Double double toil and trouble

Fire burn and cauldron bubble 

The month just keeps getting spookier! So how about we foray into one of the spookiest poems out there? Of course I mean the magical chant sung by the witches from William Shakespeare’s Macbeth!  

The witches themselves are great characters. But it’s a this point in the play where we get to  see their true colours and explore just how wicked this trio of witches are! 

If you’re unfamiliar with the play, sometimes referred to as the ‘Scottish Play’ by those actors who are overtly superstitious (including myself). Then it is another play  woven in woe, Macbeth meets the witches upon a Heath where they foretell of him becoming King, but the witches fail to mention the blood that it is to be spilled! Thus,  what follows is a wreckage of deceit, lies and murder. Macbeth’s wife – the eponymous Lady Macbeth convinced her husband to commit the crime whilst feigning that she is a weak and delicate female. Her speech declaring that he is no man and that she would rather bash the brain out of her newborn child speaks deftly of how conniving a woman she is. A woman taken over by the allure of power and greed. The witches work is done, or so they think. The goddess Hecate is furious, for they have caused madness and mischief without her permission and the world needs to be righted! And so we find ourselves here and the spookiest verse in all of Shakespeare.  

For a charm of powerful trouble 

Let the hell-broth boil and bubble.

So let’s dissect this verse! Effectively it’s a charm of ingredients ‘mummy dust’ and ‘eye of beet’ we’re well know magical substances in Shakespeare’s time. They’re uncommon and Peculiar to say the least, because how does one get their hands on ‘mummy dust’? An ingredient that allures to one of two things. Your mother’s ashes or those of an ancient Egyptian, who time is shrouded in mystery- a world long forgotten. 

But it’s not just the use of magic and mystery that makes this verse so haunting in the wider context of the play. Think about the notion that magic might  actually exist! Not only that, but it could interfere with the monarchy. A dangerous ploy- probably why they call it the Scottish Play. But, if the reader is familiar with Shakespearean plays then you’ll know that there is a lot of magic and mystery involved! For example Puck in a Midsummer Nights Dream or Ariel from The Tempest. These magical beings all create havoc, but ultimately for the greater good. Not to mention the settings of these plays were far far faaarrr away. Scotland is right on the doorstep. We also have to think about how very real, albeit misguided, the fear of witches was. If something as horrendous as witches were creating mischief in Scotland. What’s to say that it wouldn’t happen in England? 

By the pricking of my thumbs

Something wicked this way comes.