The Three Witches are some of the most complex characters, in this tragedy, to understand. They represent witchcraft within the Elizabethan era societies. The supernatural power they possess negatively affect the outcome of the play. From the opening scene, the “weird sisters” are portrayed by the character Banquo in saying, “You should be women, and yet your beards forbid me to interpret.” (Macbeth, 1. 3.46-47) Banquo couldn’t perceive them as females because they didn’t appear to look like all the other stereotypical women. Right away a standard is set that men during this time period believed all women should look a certain way. This idea would continue to build and eventually be dismissed as the female characters defied all standards. The witches …show more content…
Macbeth doesn’t want to believe what he is being told, but after realizing that they are true, he returns for more information. It is evident that the Three Sisters enjoy watching Macbeth fail as a leader of the country but also a husband. After returning the second time, they continue to twist and play with his mind. He is presented with three apparitions. The first, an armed head, warning Macbeth of Macduff and his returning to Scotland to destroy him. The second apparition, a bloody child informs Macbeth that no man born of a woman would ever hurt him. This apparition gives Macbeth a false sense of confidence, that he sees as true: "Then live Macduff: what need I fear of thee?" (Macbeth, 4.1.90). The witches have truly turned Macbeth into a power seeking monster. Although, MacDuff is the last person in his way for the throne, he wishes for him to live because he knows he has nothing to fear. The third apparition presented to Macbeth was in the form of a crowned child holding a tree in its hand, saying not to fear defeat until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane. Macbeth was confused by this apparition and seems to ignore
...two apparitions make Macbeth feel like his title as king is safe. He thinks this because Macbeth takes all of what the apparitions say literally and straightforward. Macbeth feels that it is impossible for Birnam wood to move towards the castle, this is ironic because the audience knows that the bark and branches from trees from Birnam wood have been used to camouflage the number of soldiers heading towards Macbeth’s castle. Macbeth does not think of it in this point of view, therefore making him feel very safe and confident about the war. The apparitions told warned Macbeth that Macduff is a threat to his title as king, and Macbeth took action by hiring murderers to kill Macduff’s whole family. Macbeth lies to the murderers and makes them believe that Macduff has been unfaithful to them just so that the murderers would go through with his plan.
Thirdly, feelings of paranoia and guilt cause Macbeth characters to make damaging choices. When Macbeth asks the witches to reveal the truth of their prophecies to him, they summon horrible apparitions, each of which offers a prediction to allay Macbeth’s fears. First, a floating head warns him to beware Macduff. Macbeth says that he has already guessed as much. Later when Lennox enters and tells Macbeth that Macduff has fled to England. Macbeth in reply says, “The castle of Macduff I will surprise; / Seize upon Fife; give to th'edge o'th'sword / His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls / That trace him in his line.” (4.1.149-152). As Macbeth descends to madness he becomes obsessed with eliminating any threats to his power. Macbeth orders the murderers to kill Macduff's family and eliminate any threat to him. Ironically, this is the moment that Macbeth seals his own fate, by murdering Macduff's family he ensures Macduff's retaliation against him, which ultimately leads
Macbeth's response to the first apparition ¨Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks.Thou hast harped my fear aright.¨ (Act 4 sc. 1, Line 83-85) Macbeth was not sure if he needed to fear Macduff now that the apparition showed him about Macduff, he was sure now that he needed to fear him. His response to the second apparition “Then live, Macduff. What need I fear of thee? But yet I’ll make assurance double sure, And take a bond of fate. Thou shalt not live, That I may tell pale-hearted fear it lies, And sleep in spite of thunder.” (Act 4 sc.1, Line 93-97) Now he does not need to fear Macduff, but he still wants to be sure so he is going to kill Macduff. His response to last apparition is “That will never be. Who can impress the forest, bid the tree Unfix his earthbound root? Sweet bodements! Good!” (Act 4 sc. 1, Line 109-110) Macbeth is sure that he will never be defeated because Birnam wood will never
The Tragedy of Macbeth has many elements that contribute to the overall theme and plot of the play; the leading antagonists of these elements are The Witches. Also known as “The Weird Sisters”, these characters inspire the central action of the play by disturbing Macbeth’s mental state and morality, influencing the creation of themes throughout the play, using their specific characteristics to spread an air of inevitability and terror, and finally, using their magic to disrupt other characters’ lives as well as stirring the audience’s emotions. Historical information is used throughout the play to make The Witches’ magic and reasons for doing so that much more terrifying. The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare uses The Witches to further critical components of the story; these characters make the play increasingly more terrifying because their actions reach to the audience’s emotions as they corrupt Macbeth and his principles, use historic evidence to alter the meaning of their actions, summon
The witches also kept repeating a quote that has a lot of meaning. They continued to say “foul is fair and fair is foul.” (I.i.12) This means that what seems right isn’t really right and what seems wrong isn’t really wrong. So the whole play is about false faces and how someone who seems normal and innocent isn’t really. The witches also seem to be an illusion. They are in a way human like, but at the same time they are also fake. They talked to Macbeth and told him three prophecies, which caused him to become greedy and kill King Duncan. The first time they told him what they saw was in Act 1. They said
The first apparition is the form of a disembodied head. Letting Macbeth know, he needs to be wary of Macduff. To deal with Macduff, he kills his family, resulting in Macbeth's own death. The second apparition is in the form of a bloody child. Explaining, that he should fear anyone born of a woman, for they would harm him. Though everyone is born by a woman, Macbeth feels he has nothing to fear. The last apparition is in the form of a child wearing a crown with a tree in his hand. This apparition claims that Macbeth will not be beaten until Birnam Wood travels to Dunsinane Hill, actually telling Macbeth that Macduff is coming to kill him. Though because Macbeth is blinded by his own superiority, he believes that these apparitions are a hoax. These apparitions justify Macbeth being the serpent because he takes everything into his own
In this passage Macbeth has come to visit the witches and demand that they tell him his fate. The witches decide to tell him his fate in the form of apparitions. The first apparition (not included in this passage) is to beware Macduff. The second apparition is called the “bloody child” ( 97), while the third is named “a child crowned, with a tree in his hand” ( 97). The witches play into Macbeth's ego when informing him of his fate, making them appear simple at first glance. These prophecies give Macbeth the idea that he’s invincible, leading him to believe that he can manipulate and control his fate.
The second apparition appears as a bloody child. The second spirit tells Macbeth that he has to be violent, bold and firm because no man born of a woman will harm him (IV, i, 77-81). When Macbeth hears the second apparitions message he becomes arrogant saying that there is no reason to fear Macduff, but will still kill him so he can conquer his fears and sleep well. The final apparition appears as a crowned child with a tree in his hand. He tells Macbeth that he should be brave and proud because he will never be defeated until Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane Hill (IV, i, 90-95).
We first get to meet the witches right at the beginning of the play, in Act 1 Scene 1, this gives us the idea that the witches are very significant. The three witches meet together in what is described as a ‘desolate place’, and meet in the climate
There are three apparitions that the witches give to Macbeth about his future. “First apparition: an armed head…. Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff, beware the Thane of Fife” (Shakespeare, 145). The witc...
The witches are the first characters we see in the play in Act one Scene one- A prologue of evil. They plan to meet Macbeth when the fighting has finished.
As opening characters in the story, the witches establish the major theme of the tale and predict future events. Upon hinting of their insight to the end of the war and revealing their relationship with demonic forces, the witches call out, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair,"(I, i, 12). In his first meeting with the Weird Sisters, Banquo questions the witches powers and asks, "If you can look into the seeds of time and say which will grow and which will not?"(I, iii, 65). The witches prophecies linger through the story and reveal their accuracy, and Banquo takes notice and comments to Macbeth, "I dreamt last night of the three Weird Sisters. To you they have showed some truth,"(II, i, 25). The witches prophecies place an underlying thought in Macbeth and Banquo's minds and hide there throughout their actions with an ever-present influence.
If we are to explore the significance of these witches, we must do so by treating them as vital poetic symbols in the play, essential manifestations of the moral atmosphere of Macbeth's world. & nbsp; The most obvious interpretation of the witches is to see them as manifestations of evil in the world. They exist to tempt and torment people, to challenge their faith in themselves and their society.
In the play, Macbeth, the power of a woman is a strong force to be reckoned with. Many times in the play, the female characters have proven their equality with any man. From the witches to Lady Macbeth, these characters show their power either in words or in actions. The women, in the play Macbeth, contradict the roles set by society in 1606. Women who over stepped their boundaries were considered a threat to the people and were punished severely. It was shocking to the public to see such masculine female characters in Macbeth.
The deliberately ambiguous apparitions play on Macbeth’s hubris and they make him feel so overconfident that he feels invincible and unstoppable. In his castle, Macbeth jokes that he will never fail “till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane” (V.iii.2) thinking that the apparition literally means that the forest will pick itself up and move to Dunsinane which he thinks is impossible despite all the supernatural events he has experienced. However, the forest does not move by itself but it does move to Dunsinane because of Malcolm’s ingenious strategy. As Malcolm approaches Macbeth’s castle with the English forces, he orders each soldier to cut off the branches of the trees of Birnam Wood to use as camouflage. This greatly contributes to Macbeth’s downfall since he was nowhere near ready for an invasion of the English forces. However, because of his hubris, he is still confident that he is unstoppable as he believes no one “borne a woman” (V.iii.6) can harm him. Unbeknown to him, Macduff was born through a caesarean section and thus not “borne” so much as “taken” from a woman. This lack of access to the entire truth sees Macbeth eventually