Hecate Rebukes the Witches
Act III, Scene 5 of Macbeth opens on a heath amid thunder, where the three witches encounter Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft and their commanding mistress. Hecate is visibly furious, and when the First Witch asks why she looks so angry, Hecate unleashes a sharp rebuke. She demands to know how the witches dared to trade in "riddles and affairs of death" with Macbeth without consulting her—she who is "the close contriver of all harms." Her authority over the supernatural realm has been bypassed, and she makes her displeasure unmistakable.
A Wayward Son Unworthy of Their Craft
Hecate's criticism cuts deeper than wounded pride. She calls Macbeth a "wayward son" who is "spiteful and wrathful" and who "loves for his own ends, not for you." In Hecate's view, Macbeth is an ungrateful mortal who uses the witches' prophecies only to serve his personal ambition. He has no loyalty to the dark forces that have aided him, making him an unworthy recipient of their powers. This assessment foreshadows the way Macbeth will continue to exploit supernatural knowledge without any real allegiance to the forces providing it.
The Plan to Destroy Macbeth
Having admonished the witches, Hecate pivots to a chilling plan. She instructs them to meet her the next morning at "the pit of Acheron," where Macbeth will come seeking further knowledge of his destiny. Hecate announces that she will spend the night preparing powerful magic: she intends to catch a "vaporous drop profound" from the corner of the moon, which she will distill into enchantments that conjure "artificial sprites." These illusions will manipulate Macbeth into overconfidence, causing him to "spurn fate, scorn death, and bear his hopes 'bove wisdom, grace, and fear." Hecate’s most ominous declaration—"security is mortals' chiefest enemy"—reveals the strategy: a false sense of invincibility will be Macbeth's undoing.
Departure and the Authorship Question
The scene closes as offstage singing summons Hecate away—"Come away, come away"—and she departs to her "little spirit" waiting in a foggy cloud. The First Witch urges haste, knowing Hecate will return soon. Scholars widely regard this brief scene as an interpolation by Thomas Middleton rather than Shakespeare, noting its different verse style, the inclusion of song cues that match Middleton's play The Witch, and the fact that removing it does not disrupt the plot. Nevertheless, the scene serves a dramatic purpose by introducing Hecate's authority, reinforcing the theme that overconfidence leads to destruction, and setting up the apparition scene in Act IV.