The Three Witches in Shakespeare´s Macbeth

'Fair is foul and foul fair' (1.1.?) This quote spoken by the three witches in the beginning of the story set the theme of the play. There are no rules, no moral guidelines. Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, is a play in which the good turn evil. This archetypal transformation from the young, idealistic, promising character to a dark, evil one is apparent in hundreds of plays, novels, and stories throughout history. In this story, the events which begin Macbeth's downfall aren't actions, but words. Simple, mysterious predictions that change Macbeth's life forever. These predictions are made by the three witches, or weird sisters, the three characters who act as one who inflict Macbeth with his eternal pain. The Three Witches have personality traits of mysteriousness, prophetic, and manipulative

When the witches are first encountered in the opening scene of Macbeth, a cloud of mystery forms around them. Where they have come from, who or what they are, or what they have in mind when they say they plan to meet the warrior Macbeth is all unknown. The only things known about these sisters is that they meet amidst thunder and lightening and act in the unknowing fog. Their identity is as mysterious like the fog they reside in. Even Macbeth and Banquo are uncertain about the identity of the sisters:

What are these
So wither'd and so wild in their attire,
That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth,
And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught
That man may question? You seem to understand me,
By each at once her chappy finger laying
Upon her skinny lips: you should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so. (1. 3. 39-47)

In this quote, Banquo is puzzled by the witches appearance and presence...

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...characters but are arguably the characters with the most effect of the story. It does not matter whether their predictions are because of their connection to the supernatural or whether they are simply mortal beings with insight into human nature toying with the affairs of a kingdom. This unknowingly ness about them only helps prove their first trait, mysterious. They have the biggest effect on disrupting reality and nature. If not for these characters and their doings, supernatural or not, loyal Macbeth would have never taken the steps into darkness to become the evil man he was at his brutal end. This disruption of reality that the sisters have inflicted show the deeper meaning, the destruction to the life they have caused to Macbeth. Macbeth was once a young, idealistic man who was turned evil based on just one simple phrase (quote)

Works Cited

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