Why do people believe that Shakespeare did not write Act 3 Scene 5 with Hecate?

The most famous tragedy in the English language is not a solitary monolith of genius, but a palimpsest—a canvas scraped clean and partially painted over by later hands. While the "Scottish Play" is synonymous with William Shakespeare, scholars have long identified Act 3, Scene 5 as a foreign graft, a moment where the play’s psychological gravity momentarily collapses into the light spectacle of a musical. ## The Metrics of Witchcraft The primary reason scholars doubt Shakespeare’s authorship of the Hecate scenes—which also include parts of Act 4, Scene 1—is a jarring shift in poetic meter. Shakespeare’s Weird Sisters typically speak in **trochaic tetrameter** (stressed-unstressed), creating a driving, eerie incantation: "*Dou*-ble, *dou*-ble *toil* and *trou*-ble." In contrast, Hecate speaks in **iambic tetrameter** (unstressed-stressed), a "sing-song" rhythm that feels significantly less menacing and more aligned with the courtly masques popular in the Jacobean era. As noted by the editors of [The Oxford Shakespeare](https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-collected-works-of-thomas-middleton-9780198123590), these stylistic discrepancies suggest a different ear was at work. ## The Middleton Connection The "smoking gun" of this literary mystery is the presence of two songs mentioned in the 1623 First Folio stage directions: "Come away, come away" and "Black spirits." These songs do not appear in full in *Macbeth*, but the complete lyrics are found in a play titled *The Witch*, written by Shakespeare's contemporary, **Thomas Middleton**. > "The Hecate scenes are clearly additions made to the play some years after its original composition, probably by Thomas Middleton, to provide more 'spectacle' and musical entertainment." — [Gary Taylor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Taylor_(scholar)), General Editor of the New Oxford Shakespeare. Scholars believe that after Shakespeare retired or passed away, the King’s Men (his acting company) commissioned Middleton to "update" *Macbeth*. They sought to capitalize on the public's growing appetite for music, dance, and elaborate machinery. Hecate acts as a "Master of Ceremonies," turning the internal, psychological horror of the witches into an externalized, theatrical performance. ## Evidence of Deletion Beyond the addition of Hecate, the scene feels redundant. It provides no new information to the plot and actually contradicts the earlier characterization of the witches. In Act 1, the witches are independent agents of chaos; in Act 3, Scene 5, they are suddenly subordinates answering to a disgruntled boss. Many editors argue that to make room for these musical interludes, original Shakespearean material may have been cut, leaving the version of *Macbeth* we read today as the shortest of all his tragedies. *** **Further Explorations** 1. How does the introduction of a "Goddess of Witchcraft" (Hecate) alter the interpretation of fate versus free will in the play? 2. If *Macbeth* was edited for spectacle, what other "lost" scenes might have originally existed in the gaps where Middleton’s songs now sit? 3. How does the collaborative nature of Renaissance theater challenge our modern "Auteur" theory of Shakespeare as a lone creator?

If we view a play not as a static text but as a living commercial product, the addition of Hecate ceases to be a "mistake" and becomes a savvy business pivot. The evolution of *Macbeth* reflects a fundamental shift in the physical and political environment of the Jacobean stage. ## The Blackfriars Infrastructure While Shakespeare originally wrote for the open-air Globe, the King’s Men began performing at the indoor [Blackfriars Theatre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackfriars_Theatre) in 1608. This move changed the "operating system" of English drama. Unlike the Globe, Blackfriars required artificial lighting—hundreds of wax candles that needed regular trimming. These "act breaks" necessitated musical interludes to keep the audience engaged while the stage was serviced. Middleton’s Hecate scenes, with their choreographed dances and songs like "Come away, come away," provided the perfect modular "plug-in" to fill these logistical gaps. The scene wasn't just spectacle; it was a functional requirement of indoor performance. ## Intellectual Alignment with the Crown The addition of Hecate also served a political purpose. King James I was not merely a patron; he was a self-styled expert on the occult, having authored [Daemonologie](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25929/25929-h/25929-h.htm) in 1597. > "The fearful abounding at this time in this country, of these detestable slaves of the Devil, the Witches or enchanters, hath moved me (beloved reader) to dispatch in post, this following treatise of mine." — King James I, *Daemonologie* Shakespeare’s original witches were "weird sisters"—ambiguous, Norn-like figures of fate. By introducing Hecate, a classical deity, the play aligned itself more closely with the academic demonology favored by the King. Hecate categorizes the witches’ activities, transforming their wild, chaotic malice into a structured, hierarchical "dark religion" that James would have found both familiar and validating. ## The Preservation of the Promptbook If these scenes are so clearly "un-Shakespearean," why do they persist in the 1623 First Folio? The answer lies in the nature of the sources used by the Folio’s editors, John Heminge and Henry Condell. As fellow actors, they did not work from Shakespeare’s original "foul papers" (drafts) but likely from the [Promptbook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prompt_book)—the version of the play actually used in the playhouse. By 1623, the Middleton-augmented version *was* the play. To the King’s Men, "authenticity" was not defined by sole authorship, but by theatrical success. Removing Hecate would have meant gutting the version that paid the bills. ## The Restoration Legacy The scenes survived the 17th century largely because of **Sir William Davenant**. During the Restoration, Davenant adapted *Macbeth* into a "machine play," adding even more flying effects and operatic sequences for Hecate. This version was so popular that it effectively replaced Shakespeare’s original for over a century. We keep Hecate today because she represents the first major "remix" in literary history, proving that *Macbeth* has always been a collaborative, evolving spectacle rather than a frozen monument.