Three Witches From 'Macbeth'

In this creative piece, I am portraying Scene 3 from Act 1 where the three witches are telling Macbeth what his three prophecies entail. This exact scene is the beginning of a long journey down the feelings of dangerous ambition and greed, and even the dark acts of manipulation and murder. Through the usage of colors such as red, black, grey, bronze, green and brown I was able to captivate the tones of this scene which were sinister, dark and, finally, morbid For starters, I began by setting the background, a mixture of grey and white, which symbolizes Macbeth’s already morally grey characteristics which will later on prove to harm his previous “purity” in his overall person Then I moved on and covered the edges of the piece with a material that resembled clouds and thus suggested that the three witches had the power to cloud Macbeth’s judgment with said prophecies. These three prophecies encompassed Macbeth––already being the Thane of Glamis––would also become the Thane of Cawdor and then the King of Cawdor, however it also detailed that Banquo would be father to kings to come.

To portray what these prophecies truly meant, I used objects such as a bloody sword, a crown, and coins. The coins showcased the feeling of greed that Macbeth encountered when it came to the prophecies about him, which were closely illustrated by the crown, and finally the bloody sword conveyed the lengths that Macbeth was willing to go to, just for these prophecies spoken by the three witches. Furthermore, the three witches are illustrated in a way that their faces are covered in a layering mix of dark colors, emphasizing on the foreboding mood of the scene. This points out that at this moment Macbeth was doubtful of this prophecy, but as soon as he was informed that he was the new Thane of Cawdor his feelings towards this prophecy shifted. Following this, the capes of the witches which are the color black project the sinister tone of the scene however the ombre mix of red portray the morbid tone of the scene

Additionally, Macbeth’s eyes are clouded with white and hints of blood which further hint that these prophecies clouded his judgement and were the sole reason of his future actions regarding the murder of Duncan, Banquo and more. Lastly, the blood prints behind Macbeth suggest that his previous, mostly pure, character, with morally grey characteristics, will slowly be flooded by bloodthirstiness and greed, towards the prophecies said by the three witches

However, in this scene Macbeth isn’t aware that all these efforts will amount to nothing simply because of the last prophecy, which details that Banquo’s son would be the future king, and so Macbeth would be throneless, and eventually, later in the play it would be discovered that to his dismay he’d be sonless and wifeless as well.

Emilia Salazar - Class of 2023