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The Role of Witches in Macbeth by Shakespeare

Categories: Macbeth Witchcraft

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Published: Mar 1, 2019

Words: 1433 | Pages: 3 | 8 min read

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Freud, S. (1930). Civilization and its Discontents. Hogarth Press.
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer Publishing Company.
Pintrich, P. R., & Schunk, D. H. (2002). Motivation in Education: Theory, Research, and Applications (2nd ed.). Prentice Hall.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68-78.
Seligman, M. E. (2011). Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being. Atria Books.
Sweeny, K., & Duckworth, A. L. (2019). Failure as Fuel: A Self-Regulatory Approach. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 13(11), e12508.
Tice, D. M., & Bratslavsky, E. (2000). Giving in to feel good: The place of emotion regulation in the context of general self-control. Psychological Inquiry, 11(3), 149-159.

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Why the 'Macbeth' Witches Are Key to Shakespeare's Play

Their prophecies fuel Macbeth's thirst for power

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"Macbeth" is known to be a story about the desire for power of the protagonist and his wife, but there's a trio of characters that shouldn't be left out: the witches. Without the "Macbeth" witches, there would simply be no story to tell, as they move the plot.

The Five Prophesies of the 'Macbeth' Witches

During the play, the "Macbeth" witches make five key prophesies:

Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor—and eventually King of Scotland.
Banquo’s children will become kings.
Macbeth should “beware Macduff.”
Macbeth cannot be harmed by anyone “of woman born.”
Macbeth cannot be beaten until “Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane shall come.”

Four of these predictions are realized during the course of the play, but one is not. We do not see Banquo’s children become kings; however, the real King James I was thought to be descended from Banquo, so there could still be truth to the "Macbeth" witches' prophesy.

Although the three witches appear to have great skill at prophesying, it's not certain if their prophecies really are preordained. If not, do they simply encourage Macbeth to actively construct his own fate? After all, it seems to be part of Macbeth’s character to shape his life according to the predictions (whereas Banquo does not). This might explain why the only prophecy not realized by the end of the play relates directly to Banquo and cannot be shaped by Macbeth (although Macbeth would also have little control over the “Great Birnam Wood” prophecy).

The 'Macbeth' Witches' Influence

The witches in "Macbeth" are important because they provide Macbeth’s primary call to action. The witches' prophesies also affect Lady Macbeth, albeit indirectly when Macbeth writes his wife about seeing the "weird sisters," as he calls them. After reading his letter, she's immediately prepared to plot to murder the king and worries her husband will be too "full o' th' milk of human kindness" to commit such an act. Although Macbeth initially doesn't think he could do such a thing, Lady Macbeth has no question in her mind that they would succeed. Her ambition steels him.

Thus, the witches' influence on Lady Macbeth only increases their effect on Macbeth himself—and, by extension, the entire plot of the play. The "Macbeth" witches provide the dynamism that has made " Macbeth " one of Shakespeare’s most intense plays.

How the 3 Witches Stand Out

Shakespeare used a number of devices to create a sense of otherness and malevolence for the "Macbeth" witches. For example, the witches speak in rhyming couplets, which distinguishes them from all other characters; this poetic device has made their lines among the play's most memorable: "Double, double toil and trouble; / Fire burn, and cauldron bubble."

Also, the "Macbeth" witches are said to have beards, making them difficult to identify as either gender. Last, they are always accompanied by storms and bad weather. Collectively, these traits make them appear otherworldly.

The Witches' Question for Us

By giving the "Macbeth" witches their plot-pushing role in the play, Shakespeare is asking an age-old question: Are our lives already mapped out for us, or do we have a hand in what happens?

At the end of the play, the audience is forced to consider the extent to which the characters have control over their own lives. The debate over free will versus God's preordained plan for humanity has been debated for centuries and continues to be debated today.

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Three Witches, Macbeth

The three witches are characters in Macbeth .

Macbeth begins with what is possibly the most theatrical opening stage direction of any play: Thunder and lightning, Enter three witches.

That sets the tone for the play, which is shrouded in darkness, fog, ‘filthy air’ and general foul weather. The language of the text is saturated with the kind of images that create that world. The witches – supernatural phenomena in this play – pervade the play with their presence, that hangs like a toxic cloud over the play.

Three witches stnading with deranged lokoing faces

Macbeth’s three witches as seen on stage

The weird sisters are a wonderful Shakespearean invention. They appear on the stage as characters and are played by actors, but they are not people. Shakespeare distances them from the people in the play by the way they use language. The human characters speak in Shakespeare’s usual mode of blank verse in iambic pentameter , whereas he gives the witches a strange, eerie incantatory verse in rhyming couplets. Their dialogue creates a mesmeric effect on the audience.

Moreover, although their intervention in Macbeth’s life is the most powerful dramatic device in the play, they do not participate with the human characters in the development of the drama. At the same time, there is the question as to whether they exist at all or are more like a personification of his ambition to become king, causing him to have the idea that he can if he can bring himself to kill the king.

So it would be pointless to try a character sketch of the witches. All one can say is that they appear on the stage as the source of evil – the kind of evil that can enter the soul of a good man, attack him at his most vulnerable point and produce the kind of chaos that leads to violence, murder, and war. Macbeth’s most vulnerable point is his ambition. They do not have human characteristics: they are more like machines programmed to create confusion and destruction.

Early in the play we see the witches talking about the evil things they have just done to human beings and we hear that they are now going to attack this very good man, favourite of the king, and national hero. And they do that. They approach him and tell him things about his immediate future – things that turn out to be true, which makes them believable – and they tell him that he will be king one day.

That plants the idea in Macbeth’s mind. They know that it’s already there, beneath the surface: all they are doing is bringing it to the surface, knowing that he will take the bait. They know that his weak point is his over-reaching ambition. From that moment on it is a decline from the height of heroism to the lower depths of villainy with the destruction of Macbeth’s very soul.

Top Three Witches Quotes

“When shall we three meet again In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

“Fair is foul and foul is fair Hover through the fog and filthy air.”

“I will drain him dry as hay: Sleep shall neither night nor day Hang upon his pent-house lid; He shall live a man forbid: Weary se’nnights nine times nine Shall he dwindle, peak and pine: Though his bark cannot be lost, Yet it shall be tempest-tost.”

“All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!”

“FIRST WITCH: Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d. SECOND WITCH: Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined. THIRD WITCH: Harpier cries ‘Tis time, ’tis time. FIRST WITCH: Round about the cauldron go; In the poison’d entrails throw. Toad, that under cold stone Days and nights has thirty-one Swelter’d venom sleeping got, Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot. ALL: Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. SECOND WITCH: Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake; Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. ALL: Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. THIRD WITCH: Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, Witches’ mummy, maw and gulf Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark, Root of hemlock digg’d i’ the dark, Liver of blaspheming Jew, Gall of goat, and slips of yew Silver’d in the moon’s eclipse, Nose of Turk and Tartar’s lips, Finger of birth-strangled babe Ditch-deliver’d by a drab, Make the gruel thick and slab: Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron, For the ingredients of our cauldron. ALL: Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble. SECOND WITCH: Cool it with a baboon’s blood, Then the charm is firm and good.”

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I would know these sisters three, for with their thoughts I must agree. Yet, ‘greements seem be quite hard, even with the noble Bard. Thus I strain and give me pause, whilst I do sharp’st my claws. Fair may be foul and fair may be fair, But need’st I breathe some cool fresh air! Thus my hurley burley ends and bid farewell to noble friends. (Sorry, but I couldn’t resist!)

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The history of the witches in Macbeth

Hovering through the fog and filthy air of Macbeth, the weird sisters are a terrifying chorus to the action of the play

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by Dr Will Tosh

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Magic and devilry were on people’s minds in 1606, the year Macbeth was first performed. England’s new Scottish king James was known to his subjects as a committed opponent of witchcraft and a scholar of black magic. And less than two years after James’s succession, and perhaps six months before Shakespeare started writing Macbeth , the country was profoundly shaken by the exposure of the Gunpowder Plot, the failed attempt by a group of English Catholic dissidents to assassinate the king and all the members of parliament in a huge explosion. Preachers were quick to detect demonic encouragement behind the plot.

Macbeth , Act I, scene 1 in the Munro First Folio.

The dread of supernatural horror hangs over Macbeth , and Shakespeare was very aware that his play would be taken as a comment on the Scottish king’s escape from devilish treason (it’s even been suggested that the smell of the sulphurous gunpowder used at the Globe to simulate lightning flashes would have reminded the audience of their monarch’s near miss).

But if the witches are the central focus for this atmosphere of terror, Shakespeare never lets his characters refer to the prophetic threesome as ‘witches’, although they’re termed as such in the speech prefixes and stage directions. For Macbeth and Banquo, the two characters who encounter them, they are ‘weïrd women’ or ‘weïrd sisters’, that unfamiliar umlaut indicating how early modern people said this ancient word (with two distinct syllables). In fact, in the First Folio, the earliest surviving text of Macbeth , the word is variously spelled ‘wayward’, ‘weyward’ and ‘weyard’, all of which would have been pronounced the same way in 1606: ‘WAY-rrd’.

Billy Boyd, Cat Simmons, Moyo Akandé and Jess Murphy as Banquo and the witches in Macbeth , 2013. Photographer: Ellie Kurtz

Shakespeare took this unusual word from his main source for Macbeth , Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland , in which the historical ‘Makbeth’ and ‘Banquho’ encounter ‘the weird sisters’, as Holinshed describes them, ‘goddesses of destiny, or else some nymphs or fairies, endowed with knowledge of prophecy’. In the play, the witches’ primary role is the provision of ambiguous fortunes which stir the ambitious Macbeth to action despite the fact that the details of his promised fate are decidedly sketchy (when will he be ‘king hereafter’? By what means? For how long?).

By the Renaissance, the word had lost its folkloric association but retained the broad meaning of ‘destiny’

So one interpretation of the weïrd women is less as traditional witches and more as potent prophets. In 11th century England and Scotland, a person’s fortune was determined by the workings of wyrd, a mysterious force that was both unavoidable and inexplicable. By the Renaissance, the word (now spelled ‘weird’) had lost its folkloric association but retained the broad meaning of ‘destiny’. Also in play in early modern England was the classical notion of feminised ‘Fates’, goddesses like the Morai of ancient Greece who dictated the scope of a person’s life.

Kirsty Rider in Macbeth , 2018. Photographer: Johan Persson

Early modern audiences would have heard another meaning in ‘weïrd’, too, as the First Folio spellings suggest. To them, the word sounded the same as ‘wayward’, an insulting term meaning ‘disobedient’ or ‘perverse’. ‘Wayward’ was frequently applied to women who were perceived to be outspoken or quarrelsome (cardinal sins according to the misogynistic theories of Shakespeare’s England). Women who asserted their wisdom and knowledge might well find themselves castigated as ‘wayward’, and if they were vulnerable and unlucky that ‘waywardness’ might be interpreted more darkly as sorcery or witchcraft.

Moyo Akandé, Cat Simmons and Jess Murphy as the witches in Macbeth , 2013. Photographer: Ellie Kurtz

Which bring us back to the weïrd sisters. Their ‘weirdness’ was, from Shakespeare’s perspective, both ‘wyrd’ and ‘wayward’, powerful and marginal. For Shakespeare’s first audience, they were figures who represented England’s ancient past and the mysterious magic of prophecy. But the ‘withered’ and ‘wild’ sisters were also examples of what was becoming a familiar stereotype in an England newly attuned to the ‘risks’ of sorcery: poor, disregarded and insulted old women whose wisdom, if acknowledged at all, could be understood only as witchcraft.

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Act 4, scene 1.

Macbeth approaches the witches to learn how to make his kingship secure. In response they summon for him three apparitions: an armed head, a bloody child, and finally a child crowned, with a tree in his hand. These apparitions instruct Macbeth to beware Macduff but reassure him that no man born of woman can harm him and that he will not be overthrown until Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane. Macbeth is greatly reassured, but his confidence in the future is shaken when the witches show him a line of kings all in the image of Banquo. After the witches disappear, Macbeth discovers that Macduff has fled to England and decides to kill Macduff’s family immediately.

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Essay: The Three Witches of Macbeth

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William Shakespeare’s tragic play Macbeth reveals the rise and fall of the tragic hero Macbeth through the development of the drama’s main characters. Throughout the plot of the story, each character undergoes a change in his or her initial nature. Specifically, Macbeth’s most potent developed trait is his integrity, or lack thereof. In the opening acts of the play, Macbeth is portrayed as a noble and loyal warrior; however, as the drama unfolds, Macbeth’s ambition gets the best of him. In fact, this ambition is the effect of evil prophecies chartered by Shakespeare’s mysterious Three Witches, otherwise known as the Weird Sisters. Not only do these creatures add suspense to the play, but they prophecy the destinies of numerous main characters throughout. Shakespeare is not the first to use the term “Weird Sisters;” in fact, the term comes from Scottish writers through which the term is used as a fanciful name for the Fates of Greek and Roman Mythology. The expression traveled to Shakespeare in its appearance in Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles (“Weird Sisters.” Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica). Although these characters do not appear as much throughout the play, the Weird Sisters are the center cause of the characters’ cynical actions, with their foreshadowing of the future, making these supernatural characters significant to the plot of the play. Thus, the Three Witches of Macbeth play an important role in the development of the drama through evil foreshadowing, supernatural connection, character development, and indirect manipulation.

Evil Foreshadowing

In the opening acts of the play, Shakespeare introduces the demonic beings of the Three Witches by means of their evil foreshadowing. Through such sinister predictions, the witches have the means to prove their importance to the play’s plot. As the plot advances, the Three Witches’ prophecies unfold in evil ways through each of the characters. For example, the witches prove their being of the backbone of the play in the first act and scene upon predicting the rise and fall of Macbeth. Leaving the audience no doubt of the witches’ vindictiveness, Shakespeare uses the witchcraft hysteria to portray the Weird Sisters throughout the play. This portrayal of cruel and murderous to reveal the witches’ direct connection to evil (Atherton). In introducing the audience to what takes place throughout the tragic hero’s life, the Weird Sisters are capable of revealing the evil behind their prophecies.

Supernatural Connection

Throughout the play, the audience becomes evident of the odd connection between the epic hero Macbeth and the supernatural Weird Sisters. In fact, throughout the opening acts, this connection is made evident before the formal, or staged, temptation. Not only is this connection seemingly close, but it is also mysterious and sinister. For example, when the Three Witches chant “Fair is foul, and foul is fair,” (Shakespeare line 10) Macbeth hears the chant in his mind via dense air. As Macbeth is not being directly spoken to, Shakespeare’s establishment of this connection happens by means of verbal echo, not dramatic confrontation. Moreover, the witches’ prophecies are heard through Macbeth in nearly every act and scene within. Despite their lack of appearance, the witches’ relevance remains in tact as Macbeth mirrors both the tone and tune of the Three Witches’ chants (Kranz). Thus proving the manner of the statements are just as significant as the meaning. The establishment of such an intimate supernatural connection suggests that the Weird Sisters are more important to the characterization of Macbeth than any other character in the play, emphasizing their significance to the Shakespearean Drama. Moreover, the witches’ connection with the epic hero Macbeth is further revealed through the act of inhabiting of his mind. As Macbeth awaits the murder of King Duncan, he begins to experience supernatural hallucinations. Specifically, Macbeth notices a floating dagger in mid air. In fact, Shakespeare writes, “… art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?” (lines 36-38). The dagger proceeds to lead him to the room in which Duncan and his servants are asleep. After Macbeth is in the room, the floating dagger prompts him to pull the dagger from his person. Not only do the Weird Sisters directly converse with Macbeth, but they inhabit his private, personal home (Jongh). As a result, the Three Witches are capable of assisting with the murder of Duncan by means of creating hallucinations throughout the mind of the already disturbed Macbeth. A person’s home is a sacred, private place in which they are safe and at peace. Therefore, the Weird Sisters’ connection with Macbeth unfolds further and becomes more personal as they enter his home, in a mental rather than physical manner, and assist Macbeth as he commits murder.

Character Development

In the opening act of the tragic play, Macbeth was noble and far from sinister; however, the Three Witches’ way of embracing evil ambition into the hero’s character reveals an ominous and devious Macbeth. Specifically, upon hearing of the prophecy, Macbeth is distant and does not wish to hear such evil nonsense. However, as part of the prophecy begins to prove true, Macbeth grows mad for power. For example, the Weird Sisters prophecy that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor, then later king, and Banquo’s children will be the following kings. Soon after, Macbeth is titled Thane of Cawdor, leading him to believe the rest of the prophecy (“Macbeth” Merriam – Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature). With this new found fame, the character of Macbeth begins to develop more negatively with every act. As the plot advances, Macbeth divulges into a rather murderous being. In fact, in Act 2 Scene 2 the evil urgings of Lady Macbeth, his wife, unfold through Macbeth’s actions as the two successfully murder King Duncan to allow Macbeth to be crowned king, as the witches prophesied. In conversing with Lady Macbeth, Macbeth states, “I have done the deed…” (Shakespeare line 34). In this, Shakespeare is referring to the murder as the “deed.” Without the prophecy, Macbeth and his Lady would not have been compelled to commit murder. Furthermore, the noble way of gaining power in this time period would be a duel between the current leader and the person wishing to be crowned; however, the couple drunkens the king and his guards in order to murder Duncan in his sleep without a fight, proving the nobleness of Macbeth is no more, due to the Weird Sisters (“Macbeth” Merriam – Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature). Moreover, Macbeth proves his loss of nobility and integrity in the latter acts of the play as his madness for power urges him to order the murder of a former friend. In order to consolidate his power, Macbeth authorizes the murders of his friend, Banquo, after he becomes suspicious (“Macbeth.” Shakespearean Criticism). Specifically, Macbeth states, “…every minute of his being thrusts against my near’st life” (Shakespeare lines 116-117). Macbeth is no longer the noble warrior he once was, he is simply a paranoid murderer. By way of character development, the Three Witches are able to transform the tragic hero into a murderous individual with the evil ambition for power that no one can get in the way of, not even a former mentor, leader, or friend.

Indirect Manipulation

The Three Witches of Macbeth indirectly manipulate the play’s main characters by means of persuasion. Specifically, the witches indirectly control Macbeth’s actions by manipulating him into committing gruesome and murderous acts. As previously stated, the witches prophecy Macbeth as Thane of Cawdor and king. In order to gain said power, the witches establish that Macbeth must remove all competition, despite what he must do., without actually stating that he must murder his competition. Through this, the Weird Sisters successfully transform his beloved wife, as well as Macbeth himself. From the beginning of the play, the witches reveal the importance of Macbeth to their devious scheme in saying, “There to meet with Macbeth” (Shakespeare line 8). After this meeting takes place, the reader notices why Macbeth is the foundation of the evil scheme: The Three Witches are the brains, Macbeth is the muscle. Macbeth believes wholeheartedly in the prophecies and proceeds to tell his wife Lady Macbeth, who plans the murder of King Duncan for the night that he is staying at Macbeth’s castle (“Macbeth” Merriam – Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature). At this point, the witches have filled Macbeth’s lady with devious and evil ambition more than they have Macbeth himself. In fact, Macbeth would not have committed the murder without the urgings of his wife, in order to prove to be uncowardly. However, towards the end of the play, the audience becomes aware of Lady Macbeth’s guilt. After drowning in guilt at the thought of the crimes she and Macbeth had committed, Lady Macbeth kills herself (“Macbeth.” Shakespearean Criticism). By indirectly manipulating the loving couple to do their dirty work, the Three Witches indirectly deprive Macbeth of his wife without remorse. Without the supernatural beings’ prophecy, Lady Macbeth herself would not have planned unspeakable crimes in the name of promoting her husband’s power, leading to her guilt and death. After proving each of the prophecies true, the Weird Sisters indirectly lead Macbeth to his demise. The Three Witches come to Macbeth with a second prophecy in Act 1 Scene 1 of the play. The second of the Three Witches states, “laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth,” (Shakespeare lines 90-92). After gaining trust from Macbeth and visiting him frequently, the witches become the difference makers of the play. With a false sense of invincibility given by the Three Witches, Macbeth fearlessly battles Macduff. However, Macbeth learns that the last prophecy he was given came true, proving he was doomed to die, and he was slain. The seemingly unbreakable connection proves unbreakable as the Weird Sisters secondarily engineer the death of Macbeth. In conclusion, the Three Witches, or Weird Sisters, of the Shakespearean tragic play Macbeth play an important role in the advancement of the tragic play through various characterizations and actions. In fact, Macbeth would not be a tragedy at all without the Three Witches. At the beginning of the play, the Witches foreshadow the events that follow. For example, the Witches reveal to Macbeth that he will become the Thane of Cawdor. To his surprise, Macbeth hears the news of his promotion shortly thereafter, leaving him to believe the rest of the prophecy from the Weird Sisters: Macbeth will be king and Banquo’s children will follow suit. After hearing of this new found glory, Macbeth tells his wife Lady Macbeth; however, the couple is not aware that this prophecy is evil and will prompt them to commit numerous crimes in the name of power. First, Macbeth’s beloved wife is thrilled to plan the murder of the current King Duncan in order to solidify Macbeth’s position on the throne. Moreover, Macbeth’s connection to these demonic, supernatural beings proves intimate as Macbeth is the mirror image of the Weird Sisters’ words. In each act of the play, the Witches are seen, not physically, but through the statements made by Macbeth and the actions that follow. Specifically, in Macbeth’s home, the Witches appear as a spirit in the form of a hallucination in the mind of Macbeth. Furthermore, the connection of Macbeth and Shakespeare’s Weird Sisters, as well as the actions that follow suit amongst Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, develop their characters from noble and loyal to almost demonic and cynical. The two are compelled to commit murder more than once in hope of more power. Without the evil ambition brought forth by the Witches, the audience questions: Would the couple have murdered former friends? In actuality, the murdering of the several victims brought upon by such ambition throughout the play strategically leads to the downfall of them both. By prompting the couple to do what is indirectly asked of them, the Weird Sisters successfully arrange the death of Lady Macbeth, who kills herself due to guilt, and Macbeth, who is murdered in battle all the while believing he could not be harmed. All things considered, Shakespeare’s Weird Sisters are the foundation of the play Macbeth, creating the tragedy.

Works Cited

Atherton, Carol. “Character Analysis: The Witches in Macbeth.” The British Library, 19 May 2017, www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/character-analysis-the-witches-in-macbeth. Accessed 6 Dec. 2018.
Folger Shakespeare Library. “Macbeth.” Folger Digital Texts, www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/html/Mac.html. Accessed 18 Dec. 2018.
Jongh, Nicholas de. “Witches Take over the Show.” Shakespearean Criticism, edited by Michelle Lee, vol. 128, Gale, 2010. Literature Resource Center, https://link.galegroup.com/apps /doc/H1420097061/GLS?u=avlr&sid=GLS&xid=3939da03. Accessed 6 Dec. 2018. Originally published in Evening Standard, 18 Apr. 2007.
Kranz, David L. “The Sounds of Supernatural Soliciting in Macbeth.” Shakespearean Criticism, edited by Michelle Lee, vol. 90, Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale group.com/apps/doc/H1420067030/GLS?u=avlr&sid=GLS&xid=afd2a59b. Accessed 3 Dec. 2018. Originally published in Studies in Philology, vol. 100, no. 3, Summer 2003, pp. 346-383.
“Macbeth.”Merriam-Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature, (c) 2002 Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Published under license with Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.,https://link.gal egroup.com/apps/doc/A1489207 72/GLS?u=avlr&sid=GLS&xid=0da03ffc. Accessed 3 Dec. 2018.
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Analysis of Witches in Macbeth

In the play, Macbeth by Shakespeare the three female witches play an important part in the development of the story. This essay will analyze the dramatic function of the witches in Act I of Macbeth.

I think that the reason that Shakespeare begins the play with the witches is to give us the impression that everything starts with the witches, that is they are the catalysts for everything that happens in the play.

I think that the witches are also there to set the mood for the play, “Hover through the fog and filthy air.” This line gives us a sense of loneliness and desperation.

The play would be drastically different if it sprang from Macbeth’s own mind and he did not have any influence from the witches. If Macbeth did not have any influence from the witches then he probably would not be thinking about killing Duncan to become King.

But with the witches’ help, this idea was thrust to the front of his mind and he thinks that he should kill Duncan because the witches say that it is his destiny. I am sure that Macbeth would not be as hesitant if the idea to kill Duncan came from his head without the witches’ help.

I say this because when you reason things out by yourself you tend to know what is right and what is wrong, a conscience. But with the outside influence from the witches, he thinks that that is his destiny and he must do everything to fulfill it.

What the witches say in the beginning is what influences the entire plot. Macbeth hears these words and then tries to make them happen because he listened to the witches and thinks that he is to become King. Macbeth wants this to happen so badly that he tries to come up with plans and arrange things in order for himself to meet this particular destiny.

The witches are essential to the play Macbeth, and without them, the plot of the play might be totally different, Macbeth might not kill Duncan, and so on. But we will never know because Shakespeare did not make two versions of his classic play.

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Role Of Witches in Macbeth

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Essay: The Three Witches of Macbeth

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Evil Foreshadowing

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Role Of Witches in Macbeth

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