Macbeth Critics

Charles Mosely The content of the Witches words emphasises the mindlessness of their malice, for example towards the mast of the Tiger, they represent in an externalised form the power in nature to turn to nothingness, away from the Good.
David Hume A moral degenerate cheerfully in the grip of supernatural forces
Rupert Goold Has the witches show up in scenes where Shakespeare never put them. They don’t have any dialogue in those scenes, always lurking in the shadows. Status as unseen puppet masters.
Roman Polanski Modern interpretation of the witches can be seen in Roman Polanski’s film of Macbeth in 1971, where they both begin and end the drama. Polanski supplies a final scene where the witches, clearly part of the bleak and inhospitable landscape, are discovered by Donaldbain, returning to Scotland. Implication is that their malevolence is ever-present and so is the susceptibility of individuals to their tempting ambiguities.
Dr Pamela Bickley The opening battle scene typifies the world of the play: the world, that Macbeth inhabits but then perpetuates beyond the battle field, violating the domestic space of his own and, later, Macduff’s castle.
Dr Pamela Bickley Macbeth finds in himself an affinity with blood and darkness.
Dr Pamela Bickley Shakespeare depicts a man to whom darkness and chaos is welcome and whose mind inclines always towards total destruction.
Dr Pamela Bickley The world of the numinous is not limited to the satanic arts of the witches. Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth call upon dark forces as though the night can unleash evils that are concealed or repressed during daylight hours.
Roma Gill Macbeth is indeed madly self-confident, believing that he is invincible.
Selma Slezonic The dagger signals that something bad is about to happen and it also represents the point of no return (…) the murder is a stepping stone for Macbeth’s insanity.
Marilyn French At the end, after the death of Lady Macbeth, the critic Marilyn French says the play shows the victory of the masculine over the feminine, with there being at the play’s end ‘a totally masculine world.’
Debbie Notari Once the sense of guilt has come home to roost, Lady Macbeth’s sensitivity becomes a weakness, and she is unable to cope.
September 8, 2019