The importance of women in this play is perhaps indicated when Shakespeare commences the play with a conversation between the three Witches (Act I, Scene I). The witches discuss their schedule and confirm when and where to meet with Macbeth. They decide to meet ‘Upon the Heath’ when ‘…the battle’s lost and won’. While the duo of Macbeth and Banquo were returning from the battle, they encounter the three evil sisters. Upon their meeting, they greet Macbeth as the Thane of Glamis and Banquo as the Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth is awestruck by the addressing as he was uninformed about their recent promotion. Following this, the Witches tell Macbeth their prophecy that would play a vital part in the play. Macbeth is informed that he shall be sitting upon the throne one day. After this, they turn to Banquo and tell him that although he shall not be the king, he will have them (Act I Scene III ‘All hail Macbeth! That shalt be king hereafter!’) (‘Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none’). The Witches leave the two, stunned and ambiguous from the encounter. Hereafter, they are greeted by their counterparts who tell them about the ascension and they realise that the prediction was indeed true. Due to this, Macbeth’s belief that one day he may become the king becomes stronger and he wonders whether it is time that shall make him the king or is it him that has to do something about it (Act I Scene III… ‘chance may crown me, Without my stir.’)
Here we can see how the prophecy of the three Witches has influenced Macbeth’s mind. The fact that one of their predictions has become a reality has led the Thane of Glamis to believe in them. The once loyal general to the king Duncan is now thinking whether he shall wait or does he need to take action himself in order to gain control of the throne. Here we come across for the first time three women influencing the events in the story. Had Macbeth and Banquo not met the Witches, they would not have come across their foretelling and the thought of being the king would have never crossed his mind. This would have prevented the events that took place later on.
After the Witches, Lady Macbeth, Macbeth’s wife, is the other woman who affects the events in the story and perhaps, is the most influential of them all. Incidentally, after returning from the battle, Macbeth invites King Duncan to feast at his castle that evening and informs his wife about this along with his strange encounter. Upon hearing about the witches, Lady Macbeth is determined to make Macbeth the king but doubts his husband’s will to make the witches’ prophecy a reality (Act I, Scene V… ‘Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o’ the milk of human kindness’) From this, we can see that the Lady has already made up her mind but questions his husband’s will to go through with the slaying of the king and from the lines, it seems that she wasn’t going to wait for Macbeth to become the King. She is intending to do something about it herself, perhaps in a more sinister way. She then thinks to herself that if she were a man, she would do the deed herself.
Later on in the play, Lady Macbeth goes as far as emasculating her husband, intending to provoke him to kill the king and gain control over the throne. Ultimately, it proved to be effective as Macbeth committed the sin. This, however, was due to the Lady’s constant provocation rather than Macbeth’s own will. This event goes on to influence the rest of the happenings in the story which ends tragically.
From this, we can clearly see that the women in Shakespeare’s Macbeth play an important role in the story. The appearance of the witches at the beginning gives an indication that this story will have women affecting the storyline as well as the men. The marriage that we encounter between Macbeth and his wife is not an ordinary one, specially keeping in mind the time period. The Lady seems to ‘wear the pants’ in the relationship and is quite predominant over her husband. She gets whatever she wants from her husband either by demanding it or in King Duncan’s case, clear manipulation. It was Lady Macbeth, that shaped the storyline and is arguably one of the most important characters in the play!
