‘Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none. So all hail Macbeth and Banquo.’
‘Banquo and Macbeth all hail.’
Macbeth questions them as to what they are and how they know ‘this strange intelligence’ but they simply vanish into the fog. Macbeth and Banquo question the appearance of the witches and whether they were even there at all, or if they had ‘eaten on the insane root, which takes the reason prisoner?’ Macbeth already knows that he is Thane of Glamis by birthright, but does not know how he can be the Thane of Cawdor, when to his knowledge the Thane is a prosperous gentleman, and to be king he does not even dare to contemplate. But already the witches have done their evil deed, by planting the seed of doubt in Macbeth's mind and fuelling his vaulting ambition to become the king of Scotland. While Macbeth and Banquo are discussing it, the Thanes Ross and Angus ride to meet them. They tell him that the Thane of Cawdor is a traitor and has been executed, and that king Duncan has bestowed his former title on Macbeth. It is now that the witches mental poisoning of Macbeth has come to fruition. Now he has seen that the witches foretold the truth his character starts to change quite dramatically for the rest of the play. The seeds of doubt in his mind start to grow now that he knows that if the witches have got the Cawdor prediction right then there is a chance that he could become king after all. Now it is clearly visible from Macbeth’s thoughts that this is the point in the play that we see him turn. Whereas Banquo is utterly content with his title, Macbeth’s ambition is fuelled by the witches prediction and in his mind he starts plotting to become king by any means, including the murder of the current king, Duncan. This shows that once the witches have influenced him, Macbeth is actually a much darker character than we originally perceived him to be. Spurred on by his wife, who initially appears to be the more strong-willed of the two at this early stage in the play, he kills Duncan in his sleep and becomes king of Scotland. Lady Macbeth is a very strong-willed character, she fuels his ambition to become king and is probably the sole reason that he manages to eventually bring himself to murdering the king. This is a stark contrast to the end of the play, by which time Macbeth has become the strong, dominant character and Lady Macbeth has become demented with guilt. She has taken to sleepwalking and talks in her sleep how she is trapped in her own private hell of blood, ‘fog and filthy air.’
Once Macbeth has become the tyrant king and murdered Banquo and Macduff’s family he is worried that he will be the victim of some form of vengeance from Duncan’s sons, Macduff or Fleance, Banquo’s son. Macbeth is under the illusion that the three witches are trying to help him, but this is not true. The witches are very malicious beings and delight in everything evil and unpleasant that they can create, especially leading Macbeth astray. However, Macbeth does not know this and goes to the witches for help, now he is under their power and will come to them. He wants more predictions of what the future holds for him and the witches call up three demons to give another set of premonitions. The first is a vision of a skull, which says, ‘Beware Macduff, Beware the Thane of Fife.’ This confirms Macbeth’s fear of Macduff, and that he seeks vengeance for his family’s murder. However, the next confuses Macbeth as it appears to contradict the first. The vision is of a blood-streaked baby, it says, ‘Be bloody, bold and resolute; laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.’ Macbeth mistakenly believes that this means he is invincible as surely no man is ‘not of woman born’. This leads him to disregard the first premonition and it is at this point that he loses all his fear of life and becomes the arrogant, unrealistic tyrant that we see until the end of the play. The third and final vision depicts a young boy wearing a crown and holding an oak tree in his hand, perhaps symbolising Malcolm and his ‘camouflaged army’. It tells him, ‘Be lion-mettled, proud and take no care who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are. Macbeth shall never be vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him.’
This makes Macbeth think that now he is invincible and he need not worry about the likes of Malcolm and Macduff or their army. Still, Macbeth wants to know one more thing, was the witches first premonition true and will Banquo’s descendants really become royalty. The witches urge him to know no more, but Macbeth persists and they show him a final vision of a long line of Banquo’s descendants as royalty. He laments how ‘the blood-boltered Banquo has smiled against him even though he is dead. This is a very strong indication of how Macbeth can still be haunted by ghosts of his past and how his own superstition supersedes him and leads to his eventual downfall.
The final part of the play ends with Macbeth and Macduff fighting, Macduff fuelled by his rage at Macbeth for murdering his family. Macbeth being arrogant and unintimidated by Macduff, tells him how he cannot be harmed ‘by any man of woman born’. Macduff tells Macbeth how he was not of ‘woman born’ but ‘from his mother’s womb untimely ripped’ by caesarean section. Macbeth realises that this means Macduff could kill him. Now all of the witches predictions have come true, with Birnam wood coming to Dunsinane with Malcolm’s army and Macduff being of no woman born. Macbeth still swears to fight to the last but is still defeated and killed by Macduff. Finally, Scotland is rid of its tyrant king. It is clear how Macbeth’s ambition and his belief that the witches were helping him led to his downfall and that if the witches had not done their evil deed in the first place then it may never have been his undoing.
