Rebekah, love the spooky stories from my presumed ancestral homeland.
To me the Macbeth works a little like an adopted framework speaking to rumors of the ascension of James to the throne.
I have to thank you because I found the Family of love, and they on first view look as creepy as they sound. and I love creepy rumors and histories.
What happened with current "witches" was a corporate take over, there's a few colors to choose from and they incorporated White meaning to them gentle respectful and all the sugary disney connotations, of course they were fooled about it, and of course they are well meaning and intelligent women a bit on the fringes or liminal spaces. The informed decision's not really possible until you know some history long buried about obscure welsh tales of red and white dragons, for the ancestral welsh the most hated color is white.
couple that with WICCA as a means of maintaining order in the ownership, it was heavily influenced by a thing called the Bretheren. which could claim Darby and Crowley. and probably Gardener.. it's been kept in the dark, mostly, because of the political implications of magical political actors consulting and stealing a singing stone. I find it most woderful and fascinating. Thanks for bringing it up
For a modern story with a truly scary witch, I would recommend checking out the French series "Marianne" on Netflix. Sort of a mix of witch/possession storyies, but I think the first few episodes are particularly strong.
Re: Macbeth's witches, interested to hear your thoughts on Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, which replaces the three witches with one Kabuki-esque otherworldly soothsayer
Nice, I will it sounds great! Ah yes that's a great example, Kurosawa's take is definitely incredibly creepy, such an uncanny vision, as if they've stumbled in on something that's impossible to understand. I'll have to sit down one day and read up on the role of witch figures in Kabuki - am I right in thinking this one is male?
Interesting piece. I saw a production of Macbeth this summer with my family, it was my fourth and my 15-year-old’s first and we sat in the front row at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Thanks to brilliant sound design, musicality in the delivery of lines and dance-inspired movement, (and the use of masks) it was genuinely unnerving. No single component was overdone, and yet the totality was quite effective, powerful. It can be done! The best Macbeth, I’ve seen, and definitely the best witches.
It's been a while since I've seen Macbeth, but the line you used struck me: "resembling creatures of elder world".
I read The Book of English Magic last year, and was left with deep sadness about how the Druidic and other native beliefs from England were erased by Christianity. Something I found interesting was how the wise woman/man of a village appears to have survived as a standard keeper of medicinal and maybe also spiritual knowledge up until the 17th and perhaps even 18th or 19th centuries. They were accused of witchcraft, at times, but nonetheless were just part of life.
I wonder how much Shakespeare's line was a reference to how these wise folk were, in part, quite literally vestiges of a lost elder world?
That's a good question! That particular line is from his source, Holinshed, rather than the play itself and Shakespeare includes far more of the unflattering witchy stereotypes in response to contemporary fears so (sadly) I think he's part of the history of demonising 'cunning women' or 'cunning men' but there is definitely a fascination with the concept of the ancient which is emerging at this time. James gets Inigo Jones to do a survey of Stonehenge to figure out why it was built and there is an interest in a 'pagan' culture before Christianity in some works of fiction. Cymbeline is an interesting play for depicting an ancient Britain at war with Rome. It's a play in which Jupiter actually descends from heaven so ancient gods are present in the story.
Way to go! Delving into Macbeth in terms of Blair With Project is unique and fascinating. I’ve always thought them a continuation of the Furies from the Oresteia. What say you?
They’re very fury like in the scenes that Middleton added where Hecate turns up and everyone has a dance (I’ve never seen a production that hasn’t cut these scenes). She unleashes all that classical imagery!
Another interesting post, Rebekah! I didn't realise that the witches were actually in Holinshed's Chronicles - and I think it makes them all the more interesting that they're less "witchy" and more "otherworldly" in the source material. They seem in fact like the Fates (Moirai). In Polanski's Macbeth I think there was also a suggestion of the mother goddess (maiden, mother, crone). I did watch half of Eggers' "The Witch" ... which was all a bit too unnerving for my delicate stomach. Looking forward to seeing Hocus Pocus 2 though (which I haven't, yet)!
Thanks, Gareth! Yes The Witch is a great example of Eggers' ability to create incredibly spooky atmospheres, have you seen The Lighthouse? I think that's my favourite of his but it is incredibly unsettling, quite nightmarish. I haven't watched the Polanski one for ages but I wonder whether the mother goddess stuff is drawing on the Hecate scenes from the original play which we think were added by Thomas Middleton and are almost always cut from adaptations. Her scenes were probably added to create greater opportunity for spectacle (Hecate leads the witches in dance!) so they feel completely at odds with the tone of the rest of the play but it's a cool idea to take the basic principle and make that kind of figure scary again.
I didn't know that about Hecate and Middleton, but that makes sense. No, I've not seen the Lighthouse. As I may have mentioned, I'm not much of a horror fan - The Witch was foisted upon me by family vote!
Cool post! Agreed that witches are usually more fascinating/quirky than scary, but I’ll add that when I was a little kid, the Wicked Witch of the West terrified me. 😄
I love the Orson Welles film (1948). But what I wanted to ask you Rebekah was about the argument made by Julian Goodare in a paper I attended about a decade ago (don't know if it's since been published). He suggested that the 'Weïrd Sisters' have been misunderstood; i.e. they were not just 'Weïrd' in the sense of supernatural, strange, etc. but also 'wyrd' in the sense of fate - that is, if I can quote the fictitious Uhtred of Bebbanburg, 'destiny is all'. Macbeth's and indeed Banquo's fate is therefore inescapable.
You're spot on, this is almost certainly how early modern audiences understood the word 'weïrd' and it's a term that comes from the Holinshed source where they are essentially goddesses of destiny. What's interesting about 'Macbeth' is that this is only one of several ways in which it is possible to interpret their role, Shakespeare layers tropes of witchcraft such that it is always up to the audience whether we believe that fate drove Macbeth to his crimes or not. I wrote about three different possible interpretations of the play in the fourth chapter of my PhD thesis! Macbeth certainly wants it all to be the fault of fate, but the play leaves open the possibility that he has freely chosen the path that leads to his downfall.
Very interesting; so what place 'goddesses of destiny' in post-Reformaton England. Specifically, could Macbeth have had the capacity for freewill given King James's belief in Calvinist predestination?
That's a good question and I think the answer is again that ambiguity defines the play. This is in part a response to James' own changing views because by 1606, he was an English monarch and so had become the head of the Church of England. Despite the influence of Calvinism on his earlier religious education, he couldn't quite be a strict Calvinist anymore. Another thing I write about is this fun detail of 'Macbeth' where Malcolm, in exile in England, describes watching the English monarch touching people to cure them of scrofula (the 'King's Touch'), a practice that James had resisted at first because it offended his religious sensibilities. At almost precisely the same time the play is being performed, James' advisors are persuading him round to the idea of the King's Touch and he ends up participating in the tradition more enthusiastically than the recent Tudor monarchs. So 'Macbeth' is a play that is aware that James' views were in flux and is perhaps gently hinting about the kind of monarch England wants him to be - which is definitely not a strictly Calvinist one.
I didn't know about James's own views on the King's Evil. And you're right that he has a balancing act to perform in England - Hampton Court conference to new translation of the Bible on the one hand; Catholics and Gunpowder Plotters on the other.
a similar vein - Shakespeare’s villains. my high school english teacher told us Iago from Othello was regarded as the greatest villain of all time (the most evil, the most clever, the best-written) and encouraged us to think about why might that be. i wonder if there’s overlap with the witches - is Iago the greatest villain because of the context that Shakespeare wrote in, or does he still hold up? i personally think he does!
I think so too, I think maybe because his malice is rooted in things that everyone agrees exist whereas hardly anyone still thinks there's a coven of witches meeting on the hill plotting to cause them harm!
Macbeth is probably one of my favourite Shakespeare productions. I was lucky enough to see it at the Globe Theatre in London in 2010, and people screamed.
I saw the Blair Witch Project in the theatres when it was first released and, wow, we were not expecting it. Again, people screamed.
Excellent article, Dr. King, as always. I always look forward to reading .💕
Thanks so much, Sheila! By the by, if it appeals to you at all do make sure to write accounts of films and productions you see. As a theatre historian, contemporary accounts of audiences are absolutely crucial to preserving the history of storytelling and I suspect they will be to film scholars in the future. I've got an article coming up which features the earliest description of Macbeth from someone who was in the audience at the original Globe!
I did write a blog post at the time and posted my pictures from then. That’s funny, I often think of my blog as an historical record of my life, my clothes, and my adventures.💕
It absolutely is, and as a paranoid literary historian I’d honestly suggest printing it off and having a physical copy store somewhere. I’m a bit of a prophet of doom about the prospect of a Digital Dark Age where huge amounts of twenty first century life will be lost to dead websites…
There seems to be a taming of the evil witch in contemporary English novels, following the emancipation of women. They were not as terrifying as the witches from childhood like Hansel and Gretel or a gruesome witch from Philippine folklore called manananggal, a witch that can sever its upper torso and fly over the rooftops seeking its prey - sucking a pregnant woman's fetus!
Oh my god, that’s genuinely terrifying! There are a lot of strange myths around the world about female spirits which eat babies or disrupt pregnancies. It makes sense, I suppose, given how perilous childbirth has been, though it’s a shame that midwives often got the flack for being witches (as they do in Malleus Maleficarum).
Interesting how you mentioned midwives! Those that facilitate births but also abortions. Most in Philippine folklore also demonise single self sufficient single females.
That reminds me of how cunning women who knew how to 'restore a woman's cycle' *wink wink* were exactly the kind to be vilified as witches. I wish that all felt like ancient history...
Rebekah, love the spooky stories from my presumed ancestral homeland.
To me the Macbeth works a little like an adopted framework speaking to rumors of the ascension of James to the throne.
I have to thank you because I found the Family of love, and they on first view look as creepy as they sound. and I love creepy rumors and histories.
What happened with current "witches" was a corporate take over, there's a few colors to choose from and they incorporated White meaning to them gentle respectful and all the sugary disney connotations, of course they were fooled about it, and of course they are well meaning and intelligent women a bit on the fringes or liminal spaces. The informed decision's not really possible until you know some history long buried about obscure welsh tales of red and white dragons, for the ancestral welsh the most hated color is white.
couple that with WICCA as a means of maintaining order in the ownership, it was heavily influenced by a thing called the Bretheren. which could claim Darby and Crowley. and probably Gardener.. it's been kept in the dark, mostly, because of the political implications of magical political actors consulting and stealing a singing stone. I find it most woderful and fascinating. Thanks for bringing it up
I really liked your article. There is something is intriguing and pivotal in the line -- " foul is fair and fair is foul."
Speaking of vaulting ambition I have a fictional piece, "Light from Hell” If you have some time, here is the link to it
https://williamsworld.substack.com/t/halloween
For a modern story with a truly scary witch, I would recommend checking out the French series "Marianne" on Netflix. Sort of a mix of witch/possession storyies, but I think the first few episodes are particularly strong.
Re: Macbeth's witches, interested to hear your thoughts on Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, which replaces the three witches with one Kabuki-esque otherworldly soothsayer
Nice, I will it sounds great! Ah yes that's a great example, Kurosawa's take is definitely incredibly creepy, such an uncanny vision, as if they've stumbled in on something that's impossible to understand. I'll have to sit down one day and read up on the role of witch figures in Kabuki - am I right in thinking this one is male?
Interesting piece. I saw a production of Macbeth this summer with my family, it was my fourth and my 15-year-old’s first and we sat in the front row at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Thanks to brilliant sound design, musicality in the delivery of lines and dance-inspired movement, (and the use of masks) it was genuinely unnerving. No single component was overdone, and yet the totality was quite effective, powerful. It can be done! The best Macbeth, I’ve seen, and definitely the best witches.
Sounds great! Using masks is a great idea, definitely more uncanny.
I remember finding The Crucible bone-chilling not because of anything witchy because of how easily the groupthink got out of hand!
It's one of my favourite examples of why history plays aren't just about history!
Also famously an allegory about McCarthyism, no?
Yes exactly! It’s a great example of when something ‘historical’ is also incredibly topical
Got it!
It's been a while since I've seen Macbeth, but the line you used struck me: "resembling creatures of elder world".
I read The Book of English Magic last year, and was left with deep sadness about how the Druidic and other native beliefs from England were erased by Christianity. Something I found interesting was how the wise woman/man of a village appears to have survived as a standard keeper of medicinal and maybe also spiritual knowledge up until the 17th and perhaps even 18th or 19th centuries. They were accused of witchcraft, at times, but nonetheless were just part of life.
I wonder how much Shakespeare's line was a reference to how these wise folk were, in part, quite literally vestiges of a lost elder world?
That's a good question! That particular line is from his source, Holinshed, rather than the play itself and Shakespeare includes far more of the unflattering witchy stereotypes in response to contemporary fears so (sadly) I think he's part of the history of demonising 'cunning women' or 'cunning men' but there is definitely a fascination with the concept of the ancient which is emerging at this time. James gets Inigo Jones to do a survey of Stonehenge to figure out why it was built and there is an interest in a 'pagan' culture before Christianity in some works of fiction. Cymbeline is an interesting play for depicting an ancient Britain at war with Rome. It's a play in which Jupiter actually descends from heaven so ancient gods are present in the story.
I've heard of Cymbeline but not read it. I should check it out. Thanks for the reply!
Way to go! Delving into Macbeth in terms of Blair With Project is unique and fascinating. I’ve always thought them a continuation of the Furies from the Oresteia. What say you?
They’re very fury like in the scenes that Middleton added where Hecate turns up and everyone has a dance (I’ve never seen a production that hasn’t cut these scenes). She unleashes all that classical imagery!
Another interesting post, Rebekah! I didn't realise that the witches were actually in Holinshed's Chronicles - and I think it makes them all the more interesting that they're less "witchy" and more "otherworldly" in the source material. They seem in fact like the Fates (Moirai). In Polanski's Macbeth I think there was also a suggestion of the mother goddess (maiden, mother, crone). I did watch half of Eggers' "The Witch" ... which was all a bit too unnerving for my delicate stomach. Looking forward to seeing Hocus Pocus 2 though (which I haven't, yet)!
Thanks, Gareth! Yes The Witch is a great example of Eggers' ability to create incredibly spooky atmospheres, have you seen The Lighthouse? I think that's my favourite of his but it is incredibly unsettling, quite nightmarish. I haven't watched the Polanski one for ages but I wonder whether the mother goddess stuff is drawing on the Hecate scenes from the original play which we think were added by Thomas Middleton and are almost always cut from adaptations. Her scenes were probably added to create greater opportunity for spectacle (Hecate leads the witches in dance!) so they feel completely at odds with the tone of the rest of the play but it's a cool idea to take the basic principle and make that kind of figure scary again.
I didn't know that about Hecate and Middleton, but that makes sense. No, I've not seen the Lighthouse. As I may have mentioned, I'm not much of a horror fan - The Witch was foisted upon me by family vote!
Oh then definitely don't watch The Lighthouse! As much as I love horror I love consenting audiences more haha
I will give it a go! Though I will hold you responsible for any psychological trauma... ;)
Cool post! Agreed that witches are usually more fascinating/quirky than scary, but I’ll add that when I was a little kid, the Wicked Witch of the West terrified me. 😄
Good point, Molly, her leitmotif is terrifying
I love the Orson Welles film (1948). But what I wanted to ask you Rebekah was about the argument made by Julian Goodare in a paper I attended about a decade ago (don't know if it's since been published). He suggested that the 'Weïrd Sisters' have been misunderstood; i.e. they were not just 'Weïrd' in the sense of supernatural, strange, etc. but also 'wyrd' in the sense of fate - that is, if I can quote the fictitious Uhtred of Bebbanburg, 'destiny is all'. Macbeth's and indeed Banquo's fate is therefore inescapable.
You're spot on, this is almost certainly how early modern audiences understood the word 'weïrd' and it's a term that comes from the Holinshed source where they are essentially goddesses of destiny. What's interesting about 'Macbeth' is that this is only one of several ways in which it is possible to interpret their role, Shakespeare layers tropes of witchcraft such that it is always up to the audience whether we believe that fate drove Macbeth to his crimes or not. I wrote about three different possible interpretations of the play in the fourth chapter of my PhD thesis! Macbeth certainly wants it all to be the fault of fate, but the play leaves open the possibility that he has freely chosen the path that leads to his downfall.
Very interesting; so what place 'goddesses of destiny' in post-Reformaton England. Specifically, could Macbeth have had the capacity for freewill given King James's belief in Calvinist predestination?
Your PhD sounds fascinating!
That's a good question and I think the answer is again that ambiguity defines the play. This is in part a response to James' own changing views because by 1606, he was an English monarch and so had become the head of the Church of England. Despite the influence of Calvinism on his earlier religious education, he couldn't quite be a strict Calvinist anymore. Another thing I write about is this fun detail of 'Macbeth' where Malcolm, in exile in England, describes watching the English monarch touching people to cure them of scrofula (the 'King's Touch'), a practice that James had resisted at first because it offended his religious sensibilities. At almost precisely the same time the play is being performed, James' advisors are persuading him round to the idea of the King's Touch and he ends up participating in the tradition more enthusiastically than the recent Tudor monarchs. So 'Macbeth' is a play that is aware that James' views were in flux and is perhaps gently hinting about the kind of monarch England wants him to be - which is definitely not a strictly Calvinist one.
Thanks; that's helpful.
I didn't know about James's own views on the King's Evil. And you're right that he has a balancing act to perform in England - Hampton Court conference to new translation of the Bible on the one hand; Catholics and Gunpowder Plotters on the other.
I always think people underestimate what an interesting king he was!
Whoa! Hunter's performance is phenomenal! It's like her elbows are in the wrong place... it really is disturbing, as is her echoing growl of a voice.
Reminds me of some of the stuff I discussed in my essay on Mime: https://open.substack.com/pub/jenn5c3s4/p/mime?r=1fslzq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Can't wait to read this, Jenn!
The Blair Witch Project is genuinely scary! Probably more in the fun camp, but one of my favourite short stories features a witch and was inspired by the witch marks a friend found in her house. https://open.substack.com/pub/francesbrindle/p/animal-magic?r=j0ch2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Oh and thank you for the restack.
Ooh very cool! I was reading about witch marks the other day
Sadly, I haven’t found them in our house yet, but will keep looking.
You could always make them…
Good idea 😁
a similar vein - Shakespeare’s villains. my high school english teacher told us Iago from Othello was regarded as the greatest villain of all time (the most evil, the most clever, the best-written) and encouraged us to think about why might that be. i wonder if there’s overlap with the witches - is Iago the greatest villain because of the context that Shakespeare wrote in, or does he still hold up? i personally think he does!
I think so too, I think maybe because his malice is rooted in things that everyone agrees exist whereas hardly anyone still thinks there's a coven of witches meeting on the hill plotting to cause them harm!
Macbeth is probably one of my favourite Shakespeare productions. I was lucky enough to see it at the Globe Theatre in London in 2010, and people screamed.
I saw the Blair Witch Project in the theatres when it was first released and, wow, we were not expecting it. Again, people screamed.
Excellent article, Dr. King, as always. I always look forward to reading .💕
Thanks so much, Sheila! By the by, if it appeals to you at all do make sure to write accounts of films and productions you see. As a theatre historian, contemporary accounts of audiences are absolutely crucial to preserving the history of storytelling and I suspect they will be to film scholars in the future. I've got an article coming up which features the earliest description of Macbeth from someone who was in the audience at the original Globe!
I did write a blog post at the time and posted my pictures from then. That’s funny, I often think of my blog as an historical record of my life, my clothes, and my adventures.💕
It absolutely is, and as a paranoid literary historian I’d honestly suggest printing it off and having a physical copy store somewhere. I’m a bit of a prophet of doom about the prospect of a Digital Dark Age where huge amounts of twenty first century life will be lost to dead websites…
There’s a reason I called my blog Ephemera.😁 I agree, one day it may all disappear.
Really enjoyed reading your thoughts on the topic
Thank you, Posy! By the way, you have a great name, you should be the heroine of a nineteenth century novel
Haha thanks!
It is my ‘pornstar name’ evolved from that game of combining your 1st pet (a white rabbit) with the name of a street where you lived.
it’s worked pretty well for me as as a writer of erotic fiction, and now I’m working on a Regency romance … I hope it is the right fit for that too!
How brilliant! Yes I'm now imagining Posy as a woman of ill repute who can be found lurking by the churchgate tempting the local men...
You got it! Some of my characters have indeed been that type of woman, but others are simply ladies who listen to their libido!
Now that’s my kind of heroine
There seems to be a taming of the evil witch in contemporary English novels, following the emancipation of women. They were not as terrifying as the witches from childhood like Hansel and Gretel or a gruesome witch from Philippine folklore called manananggal, a witch that can sever its upper torso and fly over the rooftops seeking its prey - sucking a pregnant woman's fetus!
Or Baba Yaga!
Oh my god, that’s genuinely terrifying! There are a lot of strange myths around the world about female spirits which eat babies or disrupt pregnancies. It makes sense, I suppose, given how perilous childbirth has been, though it’s a shame that midwives often got the flack for being witches (as they do in Malleus Maleficarum).
Interesting how you mentioned midwives! Those that facilitate births but also abortions. Most in Philippine folklore also demonise single self sufficient single females.
That reminds me of how cunning women who knew how to 'restore a woman's cycle' *wink wink* were exactly the kind to be vilified as witches. I wish that all felt like ancient history...