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How Did The Witches Contribute To The Tragedy Of Macbeth

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The Tragedy of Macbeth, written by Shakespeare, shows how greed, ambition and hubris can cause demise. Rather than reflecting the political struggles of the Post-classical era, when Macbeth is set to have taken place, Macbeth's endeavors to gain power instead reflect the supernatural beliefs and political fears of Britain during the reign of King James I in the modern era. These distinctions can be attributed to Shakespeare’s existence during King James I’s reign as witchcraft and many threats to the throne were apparent in this age. Macbeth’s strong and visionless belief in the witches can be accredited to King James I. The king firmly believed in the presence of witches and wrote Daemonolgie, describing the many threats that witches yielded. …show more content…

One of the most well known instances being the Gunpowder plot, which was a failed assassination against him. As a result of these many incidents, King James I lived in constant fear. This trait of his can be related to Macbeth as throughout the tragedy, many of his murders were influenced by whom he feared posed or could pose a threat to his throne and power. An example of this is the murder of Banquo. Although the prophecy given by the witches declared that descendants of Banquo, and not Banquo himself, would later become successors, Macbeth makes the decision that Banquo can no longer be trusted and instead is a threat to his newly acquired throne. Macbeth states, “Every minute of his being thrusts against my near’st of life,” (89), meaning that Banquo’s very existence threatens his wellbeing. Banquo himself was not a direct threat but it was Macbeth’s fear of losing power that deduced him to be. This shows how similarly to King James, Macbeth too faced paranoia of being killed by others and losing power, doing anything in his authority to eliminate obstacles. Furthermore, the many other murders he commits are solely because he feared that the victim would harm him and his chances of gaining utmost control and power would be put at

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