Importance of the Witches Prophecies in Macbeth

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Macbeth is a play written by Shakespeare that is set in eleventh century Scotland. In the play, the witches give Macbeth numerous prophecies that are malicious designs to provoke Macbeth towards his demise. This is done through giving Macbeth thoughts of treason against the king, telling him to secure the kingdom from Banquo and his descendants, and giving him a false sense of invincibility against his enemies. If it was not for the witches prophecies guiding Macbeth he would have never murdered Duncan and Macbeths life would not have been a tragedy. When Macbeth first sees the weirding sister they address him by three names “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to you, thane of Glamis. All hail, Macbeth! Hail to you, thane of Cawdor. All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!”(1.3.51-53) and also goes on to tell Banquo that his descendents will be kings even though he won’t become one. At first Macbeth dismisses these claims, and Banquo suggest that they were just hallucinating, but the idea of becoming Thane of Cawdor and king of Scotland has been implanted in Macbeths head. Coincidentally just before Macbeth and Banquo meet the witches Duncan announces to Ross that Macbeth will be the new thane of Cawdor “No more that thane of Cawdor shall deceive our bosom interest: go pronounce his present death, and with his former title greet Macbeth.”(1.3.76-76) When Macbeth finds out that he will become thane of Cawdor from Ross and Angus he starts to truly believe that he can and will become the new king. The witches use this previously announced fact “Hail to you, thane of Cawdor” as a catalyst, to trick him into believing that he will become king which makes him take action towards the prophecy, but which was really his free will maki... ... middle of paper ... ...ies manipulated Macbeth to make rash decisions; it was his own choice to murder Duncan, Banquo, and Macduff’s family. He allowed himself to believe that he was still invincible even after clearly seeing that the Witches prophecies were deceiving. The Witches prophecies were nothing but a catalyst to bring Macbeth down. He choose to kill the king in order to become the new one, he choose to kill his friend to keep the kingdom in his family name, and he choose to believe that he could not be stopped. All of these things were due to the witches repeatedly tricking Macbeth eventually leading to his demise, all because of the Weirding sister’s evil state of being and their desire to commit malice against anyone they desired to. Works Cited Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1915. Google Books. Web. 3 Sept. 2015.

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