"Something Wicked This Way Comes"

 

      Magic is at the very core of Macbeth.  There is no doubt that the witches incite Macbeth into
action. How do they do it and why?  Roanoke's witches are plotting for the throne.  Their plan is
to give it to Duncan's eldest son, Malcolm.  Along the way their scheme affects the lives of every
man, woman, and child in Scotland, but it works when Malcolm is crowned king.
           The witches are aided along the way by their familiars.  In medieval times, people thought
that the familiars of witches were devils in disguise.  The first witch's familiar is named Graymalkin. Graymalkin comes to her in the form of a cat.   The second witch's familiar is Paddock.  Most
people believe that Paddock serves his witch in the form of a toad; however, my research has
proven that he actually serves her in the form of a hedge-hog.  There is a grouping of lines in the
script that supports this idea:

In this section, the first witch is saying what her familiar did.  The second witch replies with
what hers just did and the third witch does the same.  It makes since now that the familiar is
a hegde-hog.  The familiar of the third witch is Harpier, an owl.
     Legend has it that at the source of witchcraft is Lilith.  This woman was said to be the first
wife of biblical Adam.  She was ostasised from the garden of Eden because she would not submit
to her husband and believed that they were equal.  The form that she took after she was exiled
from the garden was an owl.  The owl is a very powerful symbol in witchcraft for this reason.
There are continuos mentions to a bird calls throughout the play.  I think that it was a bit of business
that Shakespeare wrote in to create an eerie mood.  Most people at the time would know the
significance of the call of an owl due to the stories of witchcraft and also due to it use as a signal
in the gunpowder plot (see The Royal Play ).

A couple witch great witch links

THE BURNING TIMES

WitchCraft

      

    There is only one witch that has a name.  She is Hecate which means "she who works from afar".
She is not counted among the three sisters.  Some people believe Middleton added Hecate's scenes
to Macbeth.  A few publishers refuse to print the scenes in which she appears; however,  it is important
to take a look at Hecate.
    Hecate is the Greek Goddess of witchcraft and the moon.  To the Romans, she was Trivia, Goddess
of Three Roads.  She is the guardian of the crossroads. Where the paths met, there was a figure much
like the one above.  She was said to posses this figure at times.  Her worshippers left offerings for her
at the shrine.  She is also reported to be the goddess of the underworld, earth, and sky.  Due to this
and the fact that there were three paths meeting at the crossroads, she is usually represented by threes.   There is some controversy over her family tree.  A few legends say she was the daughter of Zeus and Hera.  Others say she was the child of titans Perses and Asteria.  Hecate is often linked with the legends of Demeter and Persephone.