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What does the stew symbolize in Act 4 of Macbeth?
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In Act 4 of Macbeth, the witches' stew symbolizes the turmoil within Macbeth's soul and the destructive forces at play. The ingredients, including "poison'd entrails" and "adder's fork," represent the elements of the witches' plan, poisoning Macbeth with his own guilt and ambitions. The stew's sinister nature and its connection to Macbeth's actions foreshadow his downfall, as the witches manipulate him further, reflecting the darker side of humanity and Macbeth's internal conflict.
The ingredients of the witches' stew seem, at first, rather arbitrary. We understand what the point of the stew is—"Cool it with a baboon's blood / Then the charm is firm and good"—but we cannot draw any obvious connections between its ingredients and Macbeth himself, although Hecate is pleased with it ("O, well done!").
If we analyze the ingredients closely, however, we can ascertain that nothing that has gone into the stew sounds as if it has good intent. "Poison'd entrails," "swelter'd venom," "adder's fork" and "blind-worm's sting" all combine to make "a charm of powerful trouble." The stew symbolizes the witches' power to "poison" Macbeth, playing upon his weaknesses and his own internal poison—his guilt over the murders of Duncan and, now, Banquo.
When we see what arises from the stew, we can identify what has resulted from the combination of the witches' "poison'd" ingredients. The...
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"finger of birth-strangled babe," and "grease...from the murderer's gibbet" do have obvious connections to what Macbeth has done, in murdering the king and seeking to murder Banquo's child, and we can infer that they have had a part in the apparitions of the bloody child which appears second. The bloody child and the crowned child both appeal to Macbeth's hopes and fears: he wants to believe that what they say bodes well for him—that he can be killed by no man of woman born, and that he will not be defeated until "Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill / Shall come against him"—but given the ingredients of the stew and the behavior of the witches, the audience already feels that this will not end well for Macbeth.
The potion symbolizes the turmoil in Macebth’s soul, and the ingredients represent the elements of the witches’ plan pushing him to his destruction.
Throughout the play Macbeth, the witches are symbolic of Macbeth’s deep and dark desires. In a way, they symbolize the darker side of humanity as a whole. Act 4, scene 1 is important because the witches are stepping up their game. They need this potion, their stew, to be extra effective so they can continue to manipulate Macbeth. Symbolically, the growing number of ingredients each represent one more element of Macbeth’s downfall by his greed and distraction. Hecate is pleased with the “stew” and tells the witches:
O, well done! I commend your pains,
And everyone shall share i’ the gains.(enotes etext p. 58)
By everyone, she means the audience as well as the witches. The audience is in for the treat of Macbeth’s total destruction and downfall. The potion symbolizes the inner turmoil of Macbeth’s soul, and it is very steamy by this time!
For the etext pdf, click here: http://www.enotes.com/macbeth-text