h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble."

I believe every single witch in film has used that line at least once while standing over her cauldron...

Truly one of the most famous lines from MacBeth.

Indeed,

The witches also inspire the glorious "you should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret that you are so." from Banquo!

A good put down line if you find yourself accosted by a group of undesirable females of a Saturday night!

And of course, when Maccer later goes off to get some further gen from the wierd ones, he addresses them with the classic: "How now, you secret, black and midnight hags"

Triffic!

spiff

Christopher Buckley's novel, "No Way to Treat a First Lady", has a nice twist on the Macbeth theme (from Amazon):

"The novel opens with the President of the United States returning to the conjugal bed after an illicit Lincoln Bedroom romp with the Streisandesque Babette Van Anka. His wife, the long-suffering Beth McMann, promptly clocks him with a Paul Revere spittoon. Several hours later he dies. "Lady Bethmac," as the First Lady is immediately dubbed by the media, is put on trial, and the resulting media circus gives Buckley lots of opportunity for nicely observed skewerings of legal culture."

Any resemblance to actual people is, of course, accidental. Yeah, right ... one wonders if Hillary ever considered spittooning Slick Willie ...

Ah, Macbeth or should I say the Scottish play?
The most brilliant introduction to Shakespeare I could have had as an impressionable 14 year old.
"Fair is foul and foul is fair."
How often is that true in everyday life?
"Out, out damned spot."
"She should have died hereafter. There would have been time for such a word."
"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creeps this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time."
"Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Shakespeare's understanding of the average person's view of life is still relevant even today.

"Alcohol raises the desire but reduces the performance!!"
How could anyone not relate to that!!

SBE

The witches are full of double meaning. They lure and entice. They spark jealousy and vaulting ambition. Historically these bearded women lived in the fringes of the society. And good look at film Crucible ( adaptation of Arthur Miller's play ) starring Daniel Day Lewis would be revealing.

The witches are temptresses, instruments of seduction. They brew plots and counter plots. They used Macbeth and metamorphosed his psyche until a revival in the famous "tomorrow..." speech whe his defeat was impending with enemies approaching Birnam wood.

Shakespeare was aware of Calvinist doctrines of predestination. He was also aware of Marlowe's use of Mephistopheles in Dr Faustus. That was a simple phallic opposite of the satanic witches.

The witches are full of double meaning. They lure and entice. They spark jealousy and vaulting ambition. Historically these bearded women lived in the fringes of the society. And good look at film Crucible ( adaptation of Arthur Miller's play ) starring Daniel Day Lewis would be revealing.

The witches are temptresses, instruments of seduction. They brew plots and counter plots. They used Macbeth and metamorphosed his psyche until a revival in the famous "tomorrow..." speech when his defeat was impending with enemies approaching Birnam wood.

Shakespeare was aware of Calvinist doctrines of predestination. He was also aware of Marlowe's use of Mephistopheles in Dr Faustus. That was a simple phallic opposite of the satanic witches.