The Roles of Witches in William Shakespeare's Macbeth Essay

The witches in Macbeth would have been especially scary and mysterious to the audience it was originally written for: the people living in England in the early 1600s, including the king himself. Most of the audience at the time would have believed in witches, and would therefore be afraid of them. The idea that there were crazy killers out there, being controlled by witches that could see the future, create scary potions, and recite spells would have

The Witches or Weird Sisters play a major role in the brilliant tragedy Macbeth by William Shakespeare. The role of the Weird Sisters represents that equivocal evil in the nature of things which helps to deceive the human will. They are not mere witches although they have some of the powers of witches. Even though they were produced by nature, they share with angels a freedom from limitation of space and time, a power to perceive the causes of things, and to see some distance into human minds (Kermode 1309). The Witches have malicious intentions and prophetic powers that entice Macbeth and captivate his mind. Although they have no power to compel Macbeth, the Witches appeal to Macbeth’s desires, eventually leading him to his tragic end.

Automatically the audience views Macbeth’s association with the witches to be an association with the devil. During the time of when this play was written witches were viewed in a totally different light than they are today. Back then witches were viewed as the devils spawn, or a piece of hell on earth. These characters interested the audience in a certain way that they had an evil effect on the play. The people were intrigued by the supernatural beings, they were curious to comprehend these characters. By including witches into the play it could have

In the 11th century, witchcraft was an act of devil worship, especially to the Christian faith who believed in such. Anglo Saxon Scotland brought the tradition of burning witches which had begun in the early 3rd century BC. The prophecies that came from the witches addressing both Banquo and Macbeth reflect the desires of men and their lust for power. The witches determine three things about Macbeth’s life one of which he pays close attention to "All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be king hereafter" (Act. 1 Scene. 3 Line. 53). The witches were obviously leading Macbeth into a destructive state, and Macbeth was thoroughly intrigued in the witches words, “Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more.” ( Act. 1 Scene. 3 Line. 71 ) which shows that Macbeth is more than interested in the powerful positions that the weird sisters had prophesised. Yet the witches may not have been aware of how far Macbeth will go to fulfil his wishes and desires, however the witches may have known all along, their cunning and deceptive personas show this. As the play progresses, Macbeth slowly relies more on the witches prophesies. They are clearly evil and deceiving and they slowly lead to the corruption of his character, although Macbeth drove himself into madness. The external factor eats away at him internally, making him

The witches play an important role they have the ability to predict the future and affect it too. Without their warnings and predictions Macbeth wouldn’t have chosen to act in the way he did. In their second appearance they prophesize that that he cannot be harmed by no one born of woman, a child with a crown represents Malcolm, and he’s warned about the moving Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane Hill. “But yet I’ll make assurance double sure, and take a bond of fate” (4.1.83-84).

After analyzing the play, The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare readers came to the conclusion that The Witches were most responsible for the events that happened in Macbeth. Readers found that without the actions the witches took, nothing would have happened and the characters would still have the good life they had before they appeared. The reasons why readers believe The Witches hold primary responsibility for the events in Macbeth is because they have paranormal powers and The witches equivocate to Macbeth.

In Macbeth, the witches use foreshadowing, characterization, and the characters in Macbeth use allusions. The witches play a large part in the play. They lead Macbeth to kill the king, and they lead to his demise. They are the main factor that moves the play along as well as help Macbeth use his tragic flaw of overconfidence. Macbeth believes everything that the witches tell him and he does not think for one moment that the witches might be telling him something else that would be hidden in the predictions. They were the reason that Macbeth decided to kill the king, and the reason why he was so paranoid with everyone. He killed his best friend all because the witches told him that Banquo will be father to a line of kings. Macbeth went on and

Topic Title: “Fear and Fascination: Witches in the Public Eye and in Popular Culture in Early Modern England.” The existence of witches and sorcery in Early Modern England is, almost surprisingly, still debated: what did a witch look like? What did she (or, less often, he) have to do to draw accusations of witchcraft? Did they ever really exist, or were the accusations merely the result of people desperately looking for scapegoats and explanations? How much did religion play into it?

In Macbeth, the witches seem to be confusing figures. They are portrayed as dark, eccentric, and strangely amusing creatures. It doesn’t show that they have that much importance early on, but after finishing the play and comprehending, we see that the witches have done a lot. We can deduce that the “weird sisters” specifically implant ideas in Macbeth’s head, which later influence him by giving him all types of information that eventually affect his way of handling guilt, and other emotions that put him on the edge of sanity. The witches know that Macbeth will be bad, it is not enounced why, but

sense of what the play was about and set it off for the rest of the

The witches played an undoubtedly important role in Macbeth’s downfall as they revealed that they foresee him becoming king. The prophecies provided by the witches begins Macbeth’s quest for dominance. “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis! All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be king hereafter.” (A1S3, 50-53). Their

The strive and ambition for power can seem to be true perfection, but one should be careful what they wish for, because that power might be exactly what causes their downfall. In the play, Macbeth, by, William Shakespeare, the witches have a significant role. They represent that some things are too good too be true and sometimes we shouldn’t try and follow everything that we hear. The witches give Macbeth many prophecies throughout the play. Macbeth listened to the things they said and it resulted in his death and his own downfall. The witches play the role in the play of, developing plot, advancing characters and setting themes.

want to turn to murder as Duncan is such a good and loyal man. Lady

The audience at the time viewed witches to be evil servants of the devil. The European societies of Shakespeare’s time were fascinated with the supernatural fairies, ghosts, magic, and most importantly witches and witchcraft. “[Witches] were people who made a pact with the Devil in exchange for supernatural powers,” (P1, S2) Source 2. In Macbeth, Shakespeare used popular beliefs about witches and witchcraft. “The devil does not lie… but leads us into temptation,” (P7, S3) Source 1. Macbeth led into the temptation of the prophecies the witches were feeding him lies and he was just eating them up. In Macbeth, the witch’s influences are used to manipulate the characters into disaster using visionary powers and casting spells to destroy lives. They destroyed Macbeth’s character and the person he used to be before he did anything to harm

People believed witches could control the weather, cast bad spells, had the power of flights, had contact with the devil, could vanish into thin air, had the ability to make people go mad, were able to change their physical