Is There a Real Witches' Curse in Shakespeare's 'Macbeth'?

You may have heard that the Bard's tragedy "Macbeth" is cursed. Learn how this superstition came about in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, they're
brain stuff, Lauren Vogel bomb here. If you're listening in
a theater, you might want to save this one for later,
because today we're talking about the Scottish play. William Shakespeare's
tragedy Macbeth is steeped in deceit, murder, and manipulation, and
surrounded by real life superstitions enough that plenty of theater

(00:22):
professionals and enthusiasts won't even say the word Macbeth outside
of the actual staging of a show. In the play,
the Scottish general Macbeth returns home from the battlefield and
encounters three witches who make a trio of prophecies. Many
playgoers and performers believe that incantations in Macbeth were genuine
curses taken from an actual coven. It's certainly one explanation

(00:43):
for all of the injuries, accidents, and illnesses that have
befallen so many of the people involved with its productions.
For example, during the first performance of Vicbeth and the
early six hundreds, the actor portraying Lady Macbeth fell ill
and died on stage, forcing Shakespeare to take over the role.
In later performances, theatergoers sometimes became so caught up in
the action that they formed angry mobs and tried to

(01:05):
exact justice on the antagonist, Lady Macbeth. Once in eighteen
forty nine, more than thirty people died when rioting occurred
part way through the play. Legendary actors like Laurence Olivier
and Charlton Heston experienced close calls during performances. Olivier, who
played Macbeth in nineteen thirty seven, was nearly crushed to
death by a stage light. Heston, who took the role
on in nineteen fifty three, was severely burned on his

(01:27):
lower extremities after his tights were somehow dusting Kerosene, the
eddy of misfortunes swirling around Macbeth, seems to mimic the
tragedies that take place on stage. Lady Macbeth, in an
effort to speed her husband's rise to the throne, encourages
him to murder the reigning king. When Macbeth does, he
enters into a state of paranoia. He murders his best friend,
whose children are prophesies to take the throne in the future,

(01:48):
as well as an entire family who sees his competition.
In the end, a lady Macbeth dies of guilt and
Macbeth is killed two. Meanwhile, audiences have been left to
wonder whether the witches after whom the Macbeth rolls were
patterned might have stolen into the theater, watched the first
dress rehearsal, and left a curse that has endured for centuries.
Perhaps they didn't appreciate their spells being put on display
for public consumption. Maybe they just weren't fans of the theater.

(02:11):
Whatever the reason, legend has it that they've banded together
and cursed the play's future productions. There are other, perhaps
more plausible explanations, though for starters, most of the plays
performed in dimly lit and foggy conditions, which have probably
led to many of the on stage accidents that have
plague productions. And then there are the fight scenes. Macbeth
has more skirmishes than most plays, which increases the odds

(02:33):
that something will go wrong. Condense all this strife into
the Bard's shortest tragedy, it's no wonder that people have
gotten hurt. All live productions flirt with mishaps, both large
and small. Costumes can malfunction, actors can get sick, crew
members of stained injuries. When multiplied by the thousands of
times Macbeth has been performed throughout the last four centuries,
these problems are bound to add up and perpetuate the

(02:54):
belief that the play is cursed. But if anything weird
happens to me after this episode, y'all take heat and
just be carefu well with that name. Yeah. Today's episode
was written by Laurie L. Dove and produced by Tristan McNeil.
For more on this and lots of other dramatic topics,
visit our home planet, how Stuff Works dot com.