Once I gave him the title of Cawdor, he so thoughtlessly believed in the witches' power and fell willingly under their spell. What an ignorant fool! Also responsible would have to be Lady Macbeth. Once she learns of the prophecy, she is all too ready for Macbeth to become king, no matter what evil deeds had to be done to ensure he would attain the throne, including the quickest route to the crown, my crown! Even when Macbeth does have second thoughts, Lady Macbeth is there, insulting his manhood and shaming him into action.
In this quote Macbeth is saying why should he stop with just being the thane of Cawdor, why not achieve even more greatness; the greatness that the witches promised him. This quote gives us the first glimpse into Macbeth’s goals and thoughts. Macbeth doesn’t just stop with hearing the witch’s prophecies once; instead he seeks out their advice again and tries to learn more about his future. This helps to assure him that the goals he’s achieved will be safe and won’t be taken from him. When Macbeth is talking to Lady Macbeth he says, “I will, to the weird sisters: / More shall they speak,” (3.5.134-135).
He was an honest, sensible young man, until he fell upon the witches’ spell and was victimized by his wife’s evilness. Macbeth was under the spell of three witches who claimed that he would be appointed as king after the death of the present king, Duncan. The witches chanted, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis! / All hail, Macbeth!
It becomes apparent to the reader that the witches are a part of the present and the future. Hearing of his prophesized nobility, Macbeth is all too excited to get a jump start on his future. To do so, he must get rid of the present king though. It becomes known to the reader that this foreshadowing advances the plot of Duncan’s death. Upon reading her husbands letter, Lady Macbeth is too very ecstatic about their future.
THE ROLE OF THE THREE WITCHES 1. The witches in Macbeth are present in only four scenes in the play, but Macbeths fascination with them motivates much of the plays action. The Three Witches first appear with thunder and lightning and to give us the atmosphere of the play which is the supernatural atmosphere then they agree to meet later with Macbeth . 2. THE WITCHES’ PROPHECY Macbeth and Banquo returning victorious from a great battle were stopped by three strange figures like women except that they had beards and their lined skins and wild dress made them look not like any earthly creatures.
Once the witches show him his future, he becomes obsessed with speeding up the anticipated coming into power. He is told he will be King of Scotland, so Macbeth makes it happen by killing the King, which casts a shadow of doubt on his two sons, thereby allowing Macbeth to ascend to the throne. Once Macbeth seizes power through violence and murder, his life is darkened with the crime of regicide, he has killed a rightful, good and much loved king. His life begins to fall apart after this because he develops a serious case of paranoia over having the crown stolen from him. He becomes a slash and burn murderer and he loses sight of his humanity, he has no morality governing his actions.
It also immediately draws the audience and captures their imagination, as the supernatural world fascinated people in Elizabethan England. The use of the paranormal also occurs at the beginning of this short, yet impactful scene, when the three witches explain that they will meet with the main character of the play, Macbeth, before sunset, “When the battle’s lost and won” (l. 4), “There to meet with Macbeth” (l. 8). This is the
Macbeth’s decadence then led to his marriage to slowly fall apart. At first, him and Lady Macbeth really do love each other, and show affection for one another. Though, Lady Macbeth becomes less important to her husband, Macbeth, after the murder of Duncan and he allows the witches to take her place. The witches pretty much have him brain-washed toward the end of the play by making him believe that no man could ever bring harm to him. With him believing such nonsense, he just becomes his monster who is completely
Macbeth enters the scene and immediately demands that they (the witches) answer his questions (lines 49-60), he does not ask it of them, nor does he beg, nor is he humble; he is commanding, without fear and doubt. This shows his transformation into his own ‘man’, it is started with Macbeth’s edging out of Lady Macbeth (Act 3 Scene 2); this is the end of that transformation. He no longer needs his wife’s validation and support, he believes that he is protecting his wife, as a man should, by doing the evil deeds himself, and is also starting to handle the affairs of the house (killing Banquo, treating with the witches). Macbeth acts alone and in doing so finds that he is powerful, he essentially becomes drunk on the feeling of power taken from killing Banquo by his own scheming and becomes much more confident in himself. This new-found confidence and lack of self-doubt allows Macbeth to make decisions that are final, therefore allowing speedy advancement of the plot.
The witches then manipulate him to believe he is immortal by telling him “laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.” (Act 4, scene 1 lines 86-88). This lead Macbeth to his downfall because he believes no on can harm him. The witches know this is not true but use their power of control to let him create his own tragedy. Although the witches do not directly kill anyone, they use their power over Macbeth to manipulate him into believing his throne is in danger of being over taken. Macbeth desire to be king causes him to believe the witches for their prophesies have come true before.