You are here

All Site ContentMacbethAct 2Scene 1
Back to the Play
Hecate
Allusion
Act 2,
Scene 1
Lines 50-57

An explanation of Macbeth’s allusion to Hecate in Act 2, Scene 1 of myShakespeare’s Macbeth.

Macbeth

Thus to mine eyes. Now, o'er the one half world
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtained sleep; witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings; and withered murder —
Alarmed by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl's his watch — thus with his stealthy pace,
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,

The goddess Hecate was associated with the moon. Because moonlight is pale, Shakespeare refers to her as “pale Hecate”. She was also the goddess of witchcraft. It was believed that witches gathered in the woods at night to perform ritual sacrifices (offerings) to Hecate.

Procession to a Witches Sabbath, Jusepe de Ribera, c. before 1620