The Three Witches In Shakespeare's Macbeth

The three weird sisters, also known as the witches, are instigators to the “prophecy”of Macbeth’s fortune. From the very beginning their intentions were to mess with him and Banquo. We all know that in the very beginning, the witches wish for entertainment. We can easily see this in act 1, scene three. The three witches are asking each other where they were, and each says something about an activity. For example, the second witch was “killing swine.” When they hear Macbeth coming towards them, they quickly react by messing with Macbeth and his friend, Banquo. They start filling both of their minds with hopes and good things to come. Such as, for Banquo: “Lesser than Macbeth and greater.” “Not so happy, yet much happier.” -Act 1, Sc.3. They are basically saying Banquo will father many future kings and that Macbeth himself will BE king of Scotland, Thane of Cawdor, etc. Macbeth starts to go mad after some of these things from the prophecy start to come true, which means the sisters’ plan was already working.

We also know that the apparitions shown later by the witches specifically states that the forest of Birnamwood, would move up Dunsinane Hill. We later realize that this never actually happens, it is an illusion or “camouflage” that the English soldiers made to make themselves look like the forest. One clue we can also shine light on is Hecate (the goddess of witchcraft), who basically tells the witches that they never should have messed with Macbeth in the first place, so to make it right, they are to lure Macbeth into a sort of “false sense of security” and to tell him it’s ok and not to worry about anything (pretty much)