Each of the characters act as pawns to their respective religious figure. In fact, Welles “externalizes the characters’ inner struggles, transforming them into a battle between good and evil superpowers in which the human figures become mere pawns of the Gods” (Harper 203). The characters arguably no longer act on their own powers. Each character is forced on one side of the religious ideals. Macbeth is not trying “to subdue his own ambition, but to resist the manipulations of the pagan Weird Sisters,” and “Macduff (Dan O 'Herlihy) and Malcolm (Roddy McDowall) oppose Macbeth in the name of Christianity, but they are similarly coerced” by the holy man (Marker 116). None of the characters act freely from influence from the battling ideologies.
…show more content…
Along with the appearance of the voodoo doll, the witches are also present through their voices, fog, and darkness. They are not often seen, but they are heard speaking to Macbeth. After his frightening encounter with Banquo’s ghost, Macbeth runs out into the storm to find the witches. They do not appear visually to the audience, but represented “by an ear-piercing voice-over from the off-field, they seem to spring up only in his disturbed mind, as he wrestles, Lear-like, on what looks like a desolate heath or an unrealistic sound stage, with lightning striking furiously around him” (Hachuel 5). The witches appear only though their voices and the dreary landscape. They are also present at Macbeth’s death. After Macduff announces that he “was from his mother’s womb / untimely ripped,” the camera frames Macbeth and Macduff between the backs of the witches’ heads (5.10.15-16). If not for their voices, the audience would likely overlook the fact that the witches’ heads are seen. However, the voodoo doll is clearly beheaded as Macbeth himself is struck down by Macduff. The witches’ presence during this scene and the voodoo dolls beheading both suggest that the witches are responsible for Macbeth’s death as well as his
Along with the appearance of the voodoo doll, the witches are also present through their voices, fog, and darkness. They are not often seen, but they are heard speaking to Macbeth. After his frightening encounter with Banquo’s ghost, Macbeth runs out into the storm to find the witches. They do not appear visually to the audience, but represented “by an ear-piercing voice-over from the off-field, they seem to spring up only in his disturbed mind, as he wrestles, Lear-like, on what looks like a desolate heath or an unrealistic sound stage, with lightning striking furiously around him” (Hachuel 5). The witches appear only though their voices and the dreary landscape. They are also present at Macbeth’s death. After Macduff announces that he “was from his mother’s womb / untimely ripped,” the camera frames Macbeth and Macduff between the backs of the witches’ heads (5.10.15-16). If not for their voices, the audience would likely overlook the fact that the witches’ heads are seen. However, the voodoo doll is clearly beheaded as Macbeth himself is struck down by Macduff. The witches’ presence during this scene and the voodoo dolls beheading both suggest that the witches are responsible for Macbeth’s death as well as his