Their “skinny lips” and the fact they have “beards” reinforces this view that they are repulsive. To give the casting director some scope, the image is probably a reference to their hideous appearance. The witches’ ages could be indicated by the deep wrinkles of the “chappy finger” they are using to silence Banquo.
Three witches macbeth full#
Banquo’s tone in these lines is clearly full of contempt and disgust. Shakespeare strongly emphasises their feral appearance through the repetition of the intensifier “so” and the use of alliteration to connect the two words. These adjectives suggest the actors should be dress in ragged, filthy clothing. He then describes their “attire” as “wither’d” and “wild”. The use of three interrogatives in such quick succession does raise doubts about their existence. Perhaps he believes they are from another realm such as hell. This interpretation is reinforced by Banquo’s comment that they “look not like the inhabitants o’ the earth”. Upon her skinny lips: you should be women,Īnd yet your beards forbid me to interpretĬhoosing the pronoun “what” to introduce the question instead of “who” is an interesting word choice because it immediately points towards their representation as subhuman. That man may question? You seem to understand me, That look not like the inhabitants o’ the earth,Īnd yet are on’t? Live you? or are you aught “How far is’t call’d to Forres? What are these
However, in (I.iii), Banquo provides us with a good indication of how the three witches should look:
In the earliest editions of the play, there are very few details about any of the characters’ appearance included in the stage directions. The witches’ appearance in the opening scene certainly adds to the spectacle. Although Shakespeare and his contemporaries did not use historically accurate costumes on stage, their modern dress choices would still convey the character’s social status and aspects of their personality. An actor’s appearance is an important part of characterisation because their clothing and make-up could have an immediate impact on the audience and our interpretation.
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