The importance of the Witches in Macbeth

The witches in Macbeth are very important to the story and they develop aspects of the play. The witches’ actions add a force of evil to the play, dancing around the cauldron and chanting ‘Double, double’. Their appearance as ‘dark hags’ adds to the play. The opening scene grabs the audience’s attention immediately. The words create an atmosphere and tell the audience what is happening. Macbeth is a play that contains numerous references to night and to darkness, this creates the atmosphere of growing evil that reflects the plot.

The three witches in Macbeth are introduced at the very beginning of the play in Act 1 Scene 1. By introducing them at this time, it gives an overall feel to the play of evil and the atmosphere of the supernatural. It is in this time of thunder and rain that they tell Macbeth three predictions, which is one of the most important parts of the play. In Act 1 Scene 1, we come across the witches. As this scene is very brief, it leaves the audience wondering what part they have to play in the play and also what will happen when they meet Macbeth. In line 12 the witches say ‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair, Hover through the fog and filthy air’. This shows that nothing is what it seems; we cannot trust anything we see or hear. When they say that they will meet with Macbeth we do not know if this is by the witches doing or that they simply can see into the future, perhaps we know that they are controlling his fate. The key to the greatness of this play is how we, the audience are able to enter into Macbeth’s mind.

Scene 4 begins with the first witch saying how she will torment a sailor whose wife had been rude to her. The witches decide to create a tempest to create commotion on the ship. This part in the story is important as the witches do not create a spell to kill, they simply let the storm takeover, just like the witches do not tell Macbeth to kill Duncan to become king, they simply let Macbeth carry out his actions in his own way.

The 5 predictions:

All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!
All ...

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The 5 predictions:

All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!
All hail Macbeth, that shall be King hereafter.
Macbeth! Beware Macduff.
Laugh to scorn,
the power of man, for none of woman born
shall harm Macbeth.
Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Burnam Wood to high Dunsinane hill Shall come against him

from the witches have a powerful effect on Macbeth. Banquo asks him if he fears their words, however Banquo can not see why Macbeth should be afraid, as he is promised only good things. In line 52 Act 1 scene 3 Banquo says ‘ Good Sir, why do you start, and seem to fear’ When Macbeth asks the witches more about the predictions of his future they disappear, sharpening Macbeth’s curiosity. The audience already know that Macbeth is the Thane of Cawdor. When Macbeth sees that the second prediction has come true, it makes the last prediction seem more likely and believable to Macbeth. Banquo is also promised great hope for the future, but Macbeth and Banquo act in very different ways to the witches’ predictions. Banquo takes the path that Macbeth chose not to take, the path in which ambition would not lead to betrayal and murder. He does not decide to murder Macbeth to ensure that his sons will become heir to the throne. He lets nature take its cause. This strongly gives evidence that Macbeth is not under some kind of spell forcing him into killing, and that he is responsible for his own actions.

In Act 4 Scene 1 it starts with the witches, creating a spell. After Macbeth has killed Duncan and Banquo (Macbeth still felt insecure about his position on the throne, he decides to kill Banquo and his sons), Macbeth wants to return to the witches to find out his fate, in order to see what actions he should take. Macbeth behaves as if he commands the witches and thinks he’s in control. This shows that maybe the witches did have a great influence on his actions as he returns to them for what he should do next. Macbeth has many mixed emotions. He has many fears as he knows what he has done in terms of the murders and he knows he can trust no one he has isolated himself, even, from Lady Macbeth. He comes to the witches for answers, which he relies upon to comfort him. In line 50 Macbeth meets the witches once again and asks them:

’What is’t you do? And I conjour you…. Answer me to what I ask you’

The witches give Macbeth an answer that the deed that they carry out is a deed with no name, which can be seen as a deed that is too evil to be shared with anyone else. Macbeth asks for answers and the witches offer Macbeth to hear it from their masters. One by one the apparitions enter.

Macbeth is deceived by the witches. He accepts what they say and does not think to question the riddles in which they speak, for example, like when the arrival of Ross with the title of Thane of Cawdor for Macbeth confirmed in Macbeth's mind that the witches were speaking the truth and had the power to see into the future. In line 105, Act 1 scene3 Rosse enters and says ‘He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor,’ He becomes confident, thinking that woman born cannot harm him, foolishly overlooking the initial apparition which told him to 'Beware the Thane of Fife'. When the third apparition tells him he will not be defeated until Birnam wood comes to Dunsinane, Macbeth makes his decision from the apparitions. He decides to kill Macduff, but as he has already fled to England, he does the next best thing which is to take out his revenge on Macduff's family. He decides to do it quickly. This is different to the way he acted about killing Duncan. This shows how much Macbeth has changed since we saw him as a noble man.

The consequences of Macbeth’s actions are near the end, Macduff meets him in the forest. Macbeth has to face the fact that the witches have tricked him. There is lots of imagery in the play involving deceit and pretending to be something which you are not. Macbeth understands how he has been used, he still does not give in; in many ways, you could say that Macbeth returns to the courageous soldier he was in Duncan's army at the beginning of the play. Even though he knows he will be killed by Macduff, he dies fighting

If it were not for the witches in the play we would never come to these conclusions about Macbeth and whether or not if the suggestion that the witches have an influence over Macbeth and his actions. They can not control his destiny, only Macbeth can do this, everyone is responsible for their own actions. The person who is mostly responsible for Duncan’s death and Macbeth’s downfall is Macbeth. Banquo wasn’t influenced by the witches, however Macbeth was. There had to be some desire to be King inside Macbeth for him to kill. All the witches and Lady Macbeth did was lead him and make him realise his true potential. However even the witches didn’t do that they just said that he would be king and not how he was actually going to become king. He took his own actions.

It lead me to think about who actually is the evil part, is it the witches who seem to bring the idea of Macbeth, by becoming king, or is it really the person who carries out murder? Macbeth chooses to gamble and when he does this it is only him who chooses to lose what he had. Macbeth is the one who made the decisions to carry out his actions. He made these final decisions and continued with the killing of people to gain power.

By Lizzie Baker