Role of the witches in Macbeth.
The witches in Macbeth as New Historicist Stephen Greenblatt has pointed out in his seminal work Shakespeare Bewitched have conventional attributes found in both Continental and English Witch lore, associated with thunders, tempests, thunder and lightening.
The witches are an extremely important literary construct in Macbeth, as they are the very essence of the Gothic that exists in the play. The witches are almost the trigger to honourable Macbeth's deep and hidden desires. The presence of the witches also conjures the dichotomy between Good and evil, Humanity & the supernatural and Morality and Macbeth's ambition. - enables Shakespeare to not only point out Macbeth's Harmartia (character flaw), but also emphasise these Harmartia's in humanity itself; at points, the difference between humanity and such unearthly powers seems fearfully little.Apart from creating the atmosphere they also play a decisive role in forming and shaping the tragic destiny of the protagonist.
The origin of the three witches or Weird Sisters of Macbeth lies in Holinshed's Chronicles. Other possible sources influencing their creation aside from Shakespeare's own imagination include British folklore, contemporary treatises on witchcraft including King James I and VI's Daemonologie, Scandinavian legends, and ancient classical Greek and Roman myths concerning the Fates. Portions of Thomas Middleton's play The Witch incorporated into Macbeth.
The witches' lines in the first act: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air" are often said to set the tone for the remainder of the play by establishing a sense of moral confusion. Indeed, the play is filled with situations in which evil is depicted as good, while good is rendered evil. The line "Double, double toil and trouble," communicates the witches' intent clearly: they seek only to increase trouble for the mortals around them.
Macbeth and Banquo in their way to home from battlefield are hailed by the three witches. They make predictions on both Of them .They hail Macbeth as the thane of Glamis ,thane of Cawdor and the king of Scotland.Banquo is Predicted as Less than Macbeth but greater ,not yet happy yet much happier.The conclude Banquo will not be the king of Scotland himself but the father of a long line of kings. While preparing their magical charm in a cauldron the witches conjures up a series of apparitions to predict about future of Macbeth. One by one apparition came and assures Macbeth that Macbeth should be aware of Macduff; that none of a woman born shall ever kill Macbeth; and that he will not be defeated untill the Birnam wood comes to the Dunsinane hill. Finally all the predictions becomes futile and full of dichotomy and Macbeth falls and is killed by Macduff.
Macbeth witches are essential to the plot of Macbeth because their prophesies drive his thirst for power and enable Lady Macbeth to pursue her own ambitions. Though the witches do not deliberately tell Macbeth to kill King Duncan, they use a subtle form of temptation when they inform Macbeth that he is destined to be king. By placing this thought in his mind, they effectively guide him on the path to his own destruction. This follows the pattern of temptation attributed to the Devil in the contemporary imagination: the Devil was believed to be a thought in a person's mind, which he or she might either indulge or reject. Macbeth indulges the temptation, while Banquo rejects it.
The witches also add a sense of ambivalent; whether the existence of the supernatural is in fact true, as well as creating an uncertainty in Macbeth's character and his unstable state of mind of which deteriorates throughout the play. This allows the audience to ponder on Macbeth's intentions, whether he is fully conscious of his thoughts/actions, or whether he is actually being possessed by the witches and supernatural forces in some way. His honourable and brave nature as a soldier, against the progressing thirst of his desires and the malicious methods he inflicts to obtain them, these being qualities of which humanity can acquire in itself.
Feminist criticism of the play encouraged us to see the witches as androgynous,equivocal,mysterious,who strike at the stable social, sexual, and linguistic forms which the society of the play needs in order to survive. They believe that the witches and Lady Macbeth conspired to persuade Macbeth to overthrow patriarchal authority which led to the ‘womanish’ killing of the saintly Duncan representing family and state.
Thus the real significance of the witches in the play is that they symbolize the evil inherent in the universal order. They not only aid in creating an authentic Gothic atmosphere, but also give the audience a greater understanding of the characters, and allow Shakespeare to touch upon the fears of his immediate audience. The witches directly challenge humanity, morality and desire; elements that exist within everyone leading him(Macbeth) through “ the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire”.
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