Macbeth - Look at how the witches are portrayed in the play and how they are represented through various different mediums.

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Introduction:

        My essay is going to focus on the role of the witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. I am going to look at how the witches are portrayed in the play and how they represented through various different mediums. In order to do this I will initially consider the written text and then I will compare this to the portrayal and influence of the witches through the video version.

Introduction to Shakespeare:

        William Shakespeare was born in the year 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of eighteen (1582) he got married to Anne Hathaway. One year later he had his first child. It was a girl. After another two years he had another two children. They were twins. In 1588 he moved house to London, to act out his plays. In 1592 the theatres close in London due to the plaque. The theatres reopened two years later and Shakespeare could start acting his plays. Some of his most popular plays include Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and hamlet. In the year 1613 the globe theatre burned down. Three years later William Shakespeare died and he became more famous than what he was before.

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Introduction to Witchcraft:

        During the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st the public were increasingly preoccupied with witchcraft. A law came into force making murder by witchcraft punishable by death. It is estimated that in Scotland alone 8,000 witches were burned to death. An additional law was passed in Scotland, which declared that anyone found guilty of practising witchcraft should be executed.

Main Paragraphs:

        People in the 16th century believed that witches could predict the future and when the witches in Act 1 Scene 3 they predicted the future they said “All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter.” Macbeth, like most ...

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