The Meaning and Role of the Witch in Macbeth PDF

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Witches play an important role in Macbeth.' work, so I'm going to write a paper in that direction to see what role they played and how they influence Macbeth....

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Surname1 Author’s Name: Tutor’s Name: Course Name: Date: The Meaning and Role of the Witch in Macbeth Introduction Shakespeare developed Macbeth at a period when interest in witchcraft was surrounded by hysteria. It was believed that witches brought about disaster and death, illnesses, nightmare to their enemies, make animals sickens and their crops fail. The witches in Macbeth bring out the influence of mystical forces on the affairs of humans. In the play, they are showed as malicious and their action are tied up with themes of corruption and destiny (Cancienne, 364). In the play, they serve as Macbeth enablers. In this capacity, the witches play the role of influencing his rise to power and his subsequent fall. Witches play an important role in Macbeth and the paper will look at the role they played and how they influenced Macbeth. Role Witches in Shakespeare's play Macbeth play a vital role in developing the plot and themes. The first appearance of witches in the play reveals that their primary objective is stirring up trouble since they are evil. The witches enhance the aspect of superpower and ability to trick human beings. In act 1 scene 3, the witch describes shape lifting to install a vengeance attitude on a woman (Albright, 226). Among the most notable writing technique evident in the play is suspense. The three witches present in the play makes future prediction after the battle in Scotland. The prophecy claimed that Macbeth will be a thane and a King and Banquo`s sons will be kings. The presented prophecy elevates audience intention to read the play until the

Surname2 end. Additional importance of the witches is that they played a crucial role in shaping Macbeth`s decisions. It is because of the predictions made by the witches that Macbeth makes plan to kill Duncan. The thought however frustrates him, a fact that raises struggle against his ambitions. The witches are there to trigger to Macbeth's desire to rule. Their presence contrast what is Good and evil, and Macbeth's morality. In Macbeth the three witches or the weird sisters at the beginning of the play they have a prophecy that Macbeth is to be king one day. When they tell Macbeth that he will become king, they say him it is indeed coming, but they don't give him a specific day when he will take the throne. Macbeth`s trait of weakness presented the witches a chance to use him. Macbeth was keen in listening to what the witches were telling him that one day he will become the future King of Scotland. This leads to stimulation of his ambitions. The witches` prophesies made Macbeth kill the King. It is after killing the king that the individual regrets his actions, curses his soul and turned to a bloodthirsty tyrant. Moreover, prophesies manipulated Macbeth to becoming an overconfident person. He courageously challenged Malcolm and Macduff`s army a fact that leads to his death and downfall. Meaning According to Efrizah (14), even though the witches were not the main characters in Macbeth, they were the masterminds behind every game they played, and the manipulator beneath every scam. If it was not for the witches there would be no story at all. Let me tell you how significant they really were to the play Macbeth. It started when the three witches opened the play, setting the mood of darkness and witchcraft with thunder roaring behind them, to send a message to Macbeth. When the arrived they start by telling Macbeth the prophesy by saying “All Hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis!” then the next witch says “All hail Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!” Then the

Surname3 lasts say’s “All hail, Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter!” (Shakespeare, 859). After they finished, they said one day he will be king, and what he would have to do to be king. When the witches told Macbeth about the prophesy, and that’s when everything started. They almost are the narrators of the whole story because they planned and controlled everything around them the whole time. They were these characters that were all playing a part in the witches puppet show, that’s all Macbeth was to the them, a puppet, and when they got a good show out of it, they ended it off with death. Once they got Macbeth to do all the things they asked him to do with the help of his obnoxious wife, Lady Macbeth, Which included killing the king and Mcduff’s family to do what he thought was fulfilling his prophesy. After those things quickly fell apart, Lady Macbeth had died soon after Macbeth had killed Mcduff’s family who soon will come to avenge his families’ death. While none of them ever once stopped and thought why am I doing this? To fulfill the prophesies? To remain king? Or he did it because the witches told him to? That is all it took to do all these horrific acts. They were all so oblivious, when Macbeth was deceived. Like one of the witches said “By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked always comes” (Shakespeare, 874.). When all the prophesies were fulfilled, and Macbeth died in battle against Mcduff and his wife ended up dead. The whole time they all had blamed each other for their actions, when no one looked at the witches and realized what they had really done, and this is why the witches are so significant to this story.

Surname4 Works Cited Albright, Daniel. "The witches and the witch: Verdi's Macbeth." Cambridge Opera Journal 17.3 (2005): 225-252. Cancienne, Mary Beth. "Embodying Macbeth: Incantation, Visualization, Improvisation, and Characterization." Creativity Under Duress in Education?. Springer, Cham, 2019. 361381. Efrizah, Doni. "Thematic Roles in the Tale of" Macbeth" by EF Dodd." Jurnal Humaniora Teknologi 5.2 (2019): 8-15. Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Macbeth. Vol. 2. Classic Books Company, 2001....