Witches in Macbeth by William Shakespeare Essay

  The tragedy of Macbeth comes about because of a single event in his life. If that one moment, the meeting with the witches on the heath, had not happened then Macbeth would no doubt have gone on to be a loyal and respected subject of King Duncan and, later, King Malcolm. However, the meeting did happen and the powerful force of ambition was unleashed within Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. It is the combination of these two factors, the meeting with the witches and Macbeth's own inner demons, that lead to tragedy, and make the play 'terrifying' in the Aristotelian sense.

the power to over turn the boat one of them casts a spell which will

However once they accomplish the deed, the torment that the guilt brings is too much for Macbeth but he gets used to the evil of killing people meanwhile the opposite happens to Lady Macbeth who becomes paranoid about killing Duncan. Shakespeare presents the play in such a way that the audience sees how more and more their relationship changes dramatically as a result of how they each handle their emotions following the murder of King Duncan. Although Macbeth was weak at first, it was the strong Lady Macbeth who helped him through the first murder, but in sacrifice to controlling Macbeth and his conscience, she lost control of her own and consequently became insane and committed suicide. Lady Macbeth repeatedly convinced her husband by questioning his manhood “When you durst do it, then you were a man, / And, to be more than what you were, you would / Be so much more the man” (Shakespeare 1.7.54-56). She is a strong, powerful character in comparison to her easily influenced husband, until towards the end of the play where he seems to take on her role.

It is also clear who is to be the target for the forces of evil; the

    Macbeth's internal combination of ambition and passivity create his susceptibility to the witch's prophecies and allow him to commit murderous deeds, but his unwillingness to take action-and to do evil-create his internal conflict that ultimately leads to his downfall. Although Lady Macbeth tries to goad Macbeth into action, it is Macbeth's character flaw that causes him to take action.  At first Macbeth is unwilling to murder Duncan, citing his loyalty to Duncan

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

The impact of Macbeth's wife, Lady Macbeth additionally contributed to his degeneration of character. Woman Macbeth's character in the starting uncovers that she is an adorable individual. At the point when Lady Macbeth was prepared to slaughter King Duncan herself, it demonstrated that Lady Macbeth could not murder King Duncan on the grounds that he helped her to remember her dad. This demonstrates that Lady Macbeth shows at least a bit of kindness profound inside her. Woman Macbeth assumes an essential part in this play in light of the fact that she gave a plan which brought on Macbeth to kill King Duncan. After Macbeth had murdered King Duncan, he later laments on his wrong doing. At the point of this play the gathering of people can take note of the adjustment in Macbeth's character. Macbeth's first murder was an attempting knowledge for him, however after the principal homicide, slaughtering appeared to be the main answer for keep up his rule of the populace of Scotland. Along these lines, it was Lady Macbeth who acquainted the idea of homicide with Macbeth. Macbeth's desire likewise affected his declining

In one of Shakespeare’s famous novel, Macbeth, there’s a frequently asked question and that is whether Macbeth is a tragic hero or a villain. Towards the middle of the book you can distinguish characters by their personalities and the actions they take. This makes it easy to distinguish if they are a hero or a villain. For example, it didn’t take long to realize that Macbeth was a tragic hero and not a villain. The reasoning for this is because a tragic hero is someone who is fully aware of their evil and takes pride in it.

People that lived during the Elizabethan period were very superstitious. They feared the power of witches the most. The hate stemmed mostly from the ". . . supposed satanic beliefs of the witches and their heretical partnership with the Devil" (Papp and Kirkland 43). Others thought of witches only when something of value had been damaged. They automatically assumed that a witch or one of her familiars must have done it, and "the one thing everyone [knew] about witches [was] that they were women" (Briggs 259). Because of the rigid social rules for women during the Elizabethan period, it was very difficult for a woman during that time to always do as she was supposed to do, and because of the

The Roles of Witches in William Shakespeare's Macbeth In the Elizabethan times, the people believed in witches and witchcraft. They were described as ugly and evil. Nowadays the people would not believe in them. The people in the Elizabethan times would be very scared of witches.

In the first scene in act one we can see that the witches have some kind of psychic ability from when they predict that Macbeth will win the battle. The witches appear to be having some sport of shared vision. We can tell this from the second quotation- “When the hurlyburly’s done. When the battle’s lost and won.” The witches clearly know that King Duncan’s side will win the battle. They also know when they will meet with Macbeth- “There to meet with Macbeth.” This addresses the theme of witchcraft and is Shakespeare’s way of letting the audience know that the witches have powers.

The Role of Witches in William Shakespeare's Macbeth In Macbeth the witches make a huge contribution to the play and the way it comes across to an audience. The witches portray many themes in Macbeth, such as the theme of fate, and the way that they are supposed to have the power of changing someone's fate, and the way they can control people using their power. The witches also depict a theme of pure evil, and the way they treat others in the play shows this. Religion also is a big theme in Macbeth, references to the trinity, whether it is the unholy, or the holy trinity. Also blasphemous and sacrilegious beliefs appear often throughout the play.

and make potions. We see this when they cast a spell on the sailor and

the play. Another reason for him to use witches in this way is that it

Macbeth is Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy and tells the story of immoral pursuits of power and the effects that it casts onto Macbeth and his wife. Dark ambition is the downfall of Macbeth and his wife and the people who give them the idea are none other than a trio of pot-stirring witches. At the beginning of the story, the witches act as prophets, telling Macbeth that he is destined to be the King of Scotland. Once he takes the throne, they return to him with prophecies of his downfall. Their actions are contradictory and their motives are undisclosed. So, why witches?