Macbeth inspired art
1. William Blake's Pity (ca.1795 )
Blake's watercolor illustrates a passage
from the beginning of Act I, scene vii of Macbeth, where
Macbeth in a soliloquy debates the contemplated murder
of Duncan, who, he says,
Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been
So clear in his great office, that his virtues
Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued against
The deep damnation of his taking-off;
And pity, like a naked new-born babe
Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubin horsed
Upon the sightless couriers of the air,
Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye
That tears shall drown the wind.
2. William Blake's Hecate ( ca.1795 )
Hecate is a complex work that draws together allusions
from Greek mythology, Macbeth
(just to name one of Shakespeare's plays in which she appears), and
Blake's own poetry. The
three figures represent the tripartite nature of the goddess who in
Greek mythology combined
in her person aspects of the moon, earth, and underworld, with power
over the sky, earth, and sea;
she was also associated with witchcraft, magic, and the supernatural.
Hecate appears as a character in Macbeth
when she expresses her anger at the weird sisters
for tampering with Macbeth. (see our witch
page)
3. Henry Fuseli's The Three Witches ( ca.1783 )
The source for the painting is Macbeth, Act I, scene iii, lines 39-47,
when Banquo and Macbeth
meet the Weird Sisters on the heath and Banquo says,
BANQUO
. . . What are these,
So wither'd and so wild in their attire,
That look not like th' inhabitants o' the
earth,
And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught
That man may question? You seem to understand
me,
By each at once her choppy finger laying
Upon her skinny lips: you should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so.
4. John Martin's Macbeth ( 1820 ) 
Inspired by Macbeth and Banquo's walk toward Forres.
MACBETH
So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
BANQUO
How far is 't to Forres?
5. Dante Rossetti's Study for the Death of Lady Macbeth ( ? )
This painting deals with Rossetti's understanding of Lady Macbeth's death
from Act V scene v. He depicts a somber
Macbeth at her side.
SEYTON
The queen, my lord,
is dead.
MACBETH
She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a
time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow,
and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace
from day to day
To the last syllable of
recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have
lighted fools
The way to dusty death.
Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow,
a poor player
That struts and frets his
hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more:
it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of
sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
6. John Wootton's Macbeth and Banquo Meeting the Weird Sisters (
1750 ) 
The painting is inspired by Act I, scene iii of Macbeth when Macbeth and
Banquo meet the three witches
and hear the three prophecies:
BANQUO
...You seem to understand me,
By each at once her chappy finger laying
Upon her skinny lips: you should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so.
MACBETH
Speak, if you can:
what are you?
First Witch
All hail, Macbeth!
hail to thee, thane of Glamis!
Second Witch
All hail, Macbeth,
hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!
Third Witch
All hail, Macbeth,
thou shalt be king hereafter!
BANQUO
Good sir, why do you
start; and seem to fear
Things that do sound
so fair? I' the name of truth,
Are ye fantastical,
or that indeed
Which outwardly ye
show? My noble partner
You greet with present
grace and great prediction
Of noble having and
of royal hope,
That he seems rapt
withal: to me you speak not.
If you can look into
the seeds of time,
And say which grain
will grow and which will not,
Speak then to me,
who neither beg nor fear
Your favours nor your
hate.
First Witch
Hail!
Second Witch
Hail!
Third Witch
Hail!
First Witch
Lesser than Macbeth,
and greater.
Second Witch
Not so happy, yet
much happier.
Third Witch
Thou shalt get kings,
though thou be none:
So all hail, Macbeth
and Banquo!
First Witch
Banquo and Macbeth, all
hail!
