Okay, so my niece was freaking out about her Shakespeare homework last night. She kept yelling into the phone: "Who even is this Hecate lady? She pops up for like two scenes and the teacher says she's super important?!" Honestly, I kinda blanked too. I remembered Macbeth, the witches, the whole murder mess... but Hecate? Fuzzy. Decided to re-read the play and figure her out properly.
First, I grabbed my dog-eared copy of Macbeth off the shelf. Flipped straight to Act 3, Scene 5 because that's where she shows up yelling at the three witches. Felt like watching a boss rip into lazy employees:
- She storms in all pissed off: "How dare you guys mess with Macbeth’s fate without inviting me?!"
- Complains they gave him prophecies just for funsies, calling him a "wayward son."
- Then she drops this creepy plan: "I’ll whip up magic illusions to trick Macbeth into feeling invincible. He’ll walk right into his own doom."
Checked Act 4, Scene 1 next. There she is again, overseeing the whole "double double toil and trouble" potion scene. Told my niece: "Picture her like a witch CEO." She orders the other witches around, cranks up the drama with songs, and basically engineers the fake visions that make Macbeth think he’s untouchable.
Did some digging online after reading those scenes. Found out some nerdy debates about whether Shakespeare even wrote Hecate’s parts – some scholars think another guy added her later. But who cares? She’s still crucial. Her scenes make it obvious that Macbeth’s getting played hardcore by supernatural forces way bigger than him.
Summarized it for my niece like this over FaceTime:
- Hecate’s the witch-in-charge. Those three weird sisters? They report to her.
- She doesn’t just predict fate – she designs it like a trap specifically for Macbeth.
- Her whole vibe screams: "Nothing’s real here, dude." She uses illusions to push Macbeth off the cliff.
Ended up drawing stick figures on my tablet showing Hecate shoving fake prophecies down Macbeth’s throat while the witches cackle. Niece finally groaned: "Ohhh! She’s basically the puppet master!" Nailed it. She hung up to rewrite her essay, and I finished my coffee feeling like a Shakespeare detective. Moral of the story? Sometimes the minor characters are secretly running the whole show.
