So Potent Art by Emily Carding

Author:Emily Carding
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: CVR09112020;CVR09142020;so potent art;emily carding;caitlin matthews;caitlin matthews;shakespeare;magic of shakespeare;shakespearian magic;william shakespeare;witchcraft;paganism;shakespearian history
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
Published: 2021-06-07T20:13:55+00:00

[contents]

seven

Witches

The weird sisters, hand in hand,

Posters of the sea and land,

Thus do go about, about:

Thrice to thine and thrice to mine

And thrice again, to make up nine.

Macbeth

act 1, scene 3

When most people think of Shakespearean witches, their minds turn instantly to Macbeth and the three “weird sisters.” It remains one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, is often taught in schools, and nary a fringe festival goes by without a few postapocalyptic interpretations of “the Scottish play.” It’s fair to say that as a result of this, Macbeth has gone a way towards moulding how witches are portrayed within popular culture, but just how typical were they at the time? And are they simply old ladies with a penchant for prophecy or do they represent something deeper and more significant?

On the surface there are descriptions within the text that do seem to relate directly to some of the more outlandish claims about witches at the time. There is an almost throwaway line where they are

noted to have beards, are described as “wither’d and wild in their attire” (act 1, scene 3), and are seen to summon winds. Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft details ointments made from grotesque ingredients such as “the bowels and members of children” that would allegedly enable flight. These we know better today as hallucinogenic mixtures derived from fungi to enable astral travel or journeying, but here it is being shown literally. However, none of these details, presumably topical additions to the story to appease the interests of James I, have much bearing on their function in the plot.

Macbeth is, of course, a famously bloody play, full of many murders and the tragic downfall of one who was once thought honourable. It is often the witches and Lady Macbeth who get the blame for all this bloodshed as the corrupting female influence on Macbeth’s noble male mind. But why is this?

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