Lady Macbeth: The Three Main Witches

In the play, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, there is a lot of supernatural activity involving three main Witches. There are many theories proposing that Lady Macbeth is the fourth Witch, but there is also the stance that she is not. Lady Macbeth is not the fourth Witch because she does not share the same characteristics that the Witches portray in the play. First of all, the Witches do not show regret, while Lady Macbeth does. The Witches also reveal supernatural powers throughout various parts of the play, while Lady Macbeth does not. Finally, Lady Macbeth is not as evil as the Witches.

The first reason that proves Lady Macbeth is not the fourth Witch, is because she displays regret whereas the Witches do not. This is shown when Lady Macbeth

It is evident that Lady Macbeth does not have any powers, but is very human. A scene from the play where this is shown is when Seyton says, “The queen, my lord, is dead” (5.5:16). When Seyton says these words to Macbeth, he is telling him that his wife is dead. If Lady Macbeth has supernatural powers, she could prevent these bad occurrences from happening, and save herself from the torture. It is shown that she is very human in this scene because she is helpless. Lady Macbeth is clearly not the fourth Witch because the Witches use supernatural powers many times throughout the play, and if she had these abilities, then she would use them to save herself. An example from the play when a Witch uses supernatural powers, is when the Third Apparition says, “Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until/ Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill/ Shall come against him” (4.1:91-93). The Third Apparition speaks these prophecies to Macbeth when he asks if he should fear Macduff. This proves Witches have supernatural powers because the Third Apparition is using these powers to prophesize what will happen in the future. The prophecies the Witch gives to Macbeth, later on come true. A normal human can not give accurate prophecies without supernatural abilities, therefore Lady Macbeth is not the fourth Witch because she never demonstrates these powers

‘Give me,’ quoth I.

‘Aroint thee, witch’, the rump-fed runnion cries.

Her husband’s to Aleppo gone, master o’th’Tiger:

But in a sieve I’ll thither sail,

And like a rat without a tail,

I’ll do, I’ll do, and I’ll do. (1.3:3-9)

In this statement, the Witch talks about all the horrific things she will do to this woman's husband because she did not share her chestnuts with the Witch. Since the Witch is extremely devious, she plans on making the woman’s life horrible. The Witch is very evil because she is not bothered by performing cruel actions onto innocent people, while Lady Macbeth needs help from evil spirits to commit her crimes. These examples from the play prove that Lady Macbeth is not the fourth Witch as she is not as evil as the Witches. As revealed above, it is evident that Lady Macbeth is not the fourth Witch because she shows regret, she has no supernatural powers, and Lady Macbeth is not as evil as the three Witches. It is not possible that Lady Macbeth is the fourth Witch because she does not share the same attributes as the Witches. In conclusion, with the examples given it is apparent that Lady Macbeth is not a