The Three Witches In William Shakespeare's Macbeth

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth begins with three witches, who discuss their upcoming meeting with Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis. Later on, Macbeth and Banquo, a general, meet the witches, and they tell Macbeth that he will be Thane of Cawdor and eventually become King of Scotland. They also tell Banquo that his sons will be future kings. Macbeth however has no knowledge that King Duncan had already promoted him to Thane of Cawdor, so when he finally hears of this news, he believes that the witches’ prophecy is coming true. Macbeth then decides to kill King Duncan to ensure that Macbeth himself will become king. He then orders Banquo and his son, Fleance, to be killed to prevent Banquo’s lineage from ascending to the throne. However, only Banquo is murdered as Fleance escapes.

The three witches tell Macbeth that he should only fear a man not born from a woman and the Great Birnam Forest meeting Dunsinane Hill. Macbeth prepares for battle against Malcolm, Duncan’s eldest son, and Macduff, the Thane of Fife. Macbeth is eventually killed by Macduff, who was born from a C-section, after the soldiers disguised with tree branches reach Macbeth’s estate at Dunsinane Hill. Malcolm is finally crowned King of Scotland. With all of the violent acts in the play, one begins to wonder how much control the characters have over their actions. Were the characters aware of their crimes, and did they have clear intentions of violence? In his essay “Feeling Criminal in Macbeth”, Kevin Curran answers this question by claiming that criminality is nondualistic. By this, he means that one cannot separate the guilty mind from the guilty body, and this makes criminality a “phenomelogical process”, where “thing” and “thought” merge into perception (Curran 392-93). Essentially, Curran claims that during the play, Macbeth thought with the dagger, which