Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ Was Cursed By Actual Witches

Even if you’re not married to a theater major and knee-deep in old plays at any given moment, you’ve probably heard about the famous “curse of the Scottish play.” And if you haven’t, well, congratulations, you uncultured weirdo, you’re about to learn something fun about Shakespeare.

The “Scottish curse” is thus: saying the word “Macbeth” aloud in a theater, literally any theater, outside of the actual performance of Macbeth, will bring down all manner of crap and chaos, up to and including a riot. Lights have burned out, touring companies have disbanded, people have gotten hurt, people have died – and, one time, Charlton Heston had his balls set on fire.

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And that’s to say nothing about poor Ian McKellen.

All because William Shakespeare pissed off a bunch of witches 400 years ago.

You see, Macbeth was written and first performed in 1606, when accusations and/or the actual practice of witchcraft, and the fear/hatred of the same, were very much en vogue. (For reference, America’s own Salem Witch Trials wouldn’t happen for close to another century.) The newly-throned King James I was especially keen on literal witch hunts, blaming dark magicks for his mother’s death. Dude even wrote a book about how he was going to kill them all, like some demented Pokémon trainer.

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Reportedly, Shakespeare borrowed actual incantations from actual witches to make his “weyward” Sisters that much scarier. Maybe you’ve noticed that the witches in Macbeth speak in tetrameter, with four “feet” per line – four sets of stressed syllables and unstressed syllables – rather than Shakespeare’s typical five-feeted iambic pentameter. Pro-witch proponents argue that this is proof that Willy Shakes cribbed real-life spells and didn’t write the sorcerous instructions himself.

Naturally (or, y’know, un-naturally) this didn’t sit well with all the practicing witches from whom he’d pilfered – witches who were, again, actively trying not to be murdered by the sitting English king, and who would have loved nothing more than to not have been brought literally center stage. In retaliation, they cursed the play forevermore – starting with two of Shakespeare’s original cast being accidentally murdered onstage.

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Macbeth productions rarely need to budget for blood.