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A likely allusion to the ancient Greek goddess of witchcraft, Shakespeare’s Hecate is the leader of the three witches who taunt Macbeth with their prophecies. She only appears briefly in two scenes, Act III, Scene 5 and Act IV, Scene 1, but she nevertheless has an impact on Macbeth’s journey toward self-destruction. In her first moments on stage, Hecate chastises the three witches for delivering riddles to Macbeth without her knowledge or involvement. The harsh language she uses throughout this opening monologue emphasizes the dark and combative aspects of her character, two qualities which work to distinguish her from more traditional depictions of Hecate as a goddess. Her monologue is also made up entirely of rhyming couplets, and this linguistic choice reinforces her identity as a supernatural being. Hecate’s words, even when speaking to the other witches, sound like an enchantment. As she prepares to leave, she vows to spend the night creating spells to ensure that Macbeth destroys himself. This choice raises broader questions about how much the witches’ manipulation impacts Macbeth’s tragic downfall. Hecate, however, emphasizes that his own sense of being invincible will be the true source of his undoing. In her second appearance, Hecate arrives to approve of the work the three witches are doing, work which ultimately reveals three apparitions to Macbeth. These visions warn him of his undoing, but as Hecate predicted, he believes that nothing can harm him. Although Hecate does not make any more appearances after this moment, her character’s presence in the play offers the audience a deeper look into both the internal and external forces that shape Macbeth’s path toward destruction.
