Witches; Why would they be wayward?
According to the video, Editing Macbeth: Weird Sisters or Witches, the speaker Barbara Mowat claims that the witches in Shakespeare's play often referred to as “wayward sisters” or “weird sisters” (“Editing Macbeth,” 0:52-3:22). This translation of Macbeth folio generates questions about interpreting the meaning because when scholars analyze the context, both of them do not make sense. To explain the appropriate explanation, Mowat mentions Lewis Theobald, who traces through “the other uses of the word wayward” (“Editing Macbeth,” 1:23-3:22). Shortly, Theobald found Shakespear’s day of weird sisters. The definition of the creatures were creatures in Greek mythology, “who had forced ability to foresee the future” (“Editing Macbeth,” 1:51-3:22). Therefore, in the historical context, wayward sisters were creatures who can see the future.
However, regardless of great scholar's effort, the term “wayward sisters” itself has a meaning. The witches were described by many cultures often found in a barren land, somewhere nobody wants to live. Since humans need, other people’s existence for their survival, living alone in the wilderness means that person has a strong characteristic. Especially for witches’ gender, they often regard as female, since they called “sisters”. In western culture, a woman is a symbol of the household. From ancient Greek to modern industrialized America, women’s place is the home, where families are waiting for her caring. However, witches are free from society’s rules about women. They do not take care of children, also not staying home in the town. Witches decide to live alone in the forest, or near the swamp, whatever place the society’s rule can not distract them. That disobedience about society’s norm about women also can make them witches, not their ability to foresee.
In conclusion, there are other ways to interpret the meaning of “wayward sisters” or “weird sisters”. Witches are wayward because they use magic to seek their desire, witches are weird because they are not like other women in society. If women have the power to see the future and behave as respected mannered women, they will not be called witches. What makes them witches are not only the ability to see the future but also their waywardness.
FolgerLibrary. “Editing Macbeth: Weird Sisters or Witches.” YouTube, uploaded by FolgerLibrary, 2 Dec. 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb5GPfNhPTI&feature=youtu.be.
Geeze님의 창작활동을 응원하고 싶으세요?
