What Effect Do The Three Witches Have On Macbeth

The three witches are supernatural entities who ultimately control all of

Macbeth's thoughts, actions, and decisions. By convincing Macbeth to yearn for more and more power and then progressively driving him to his downfall, the witches prove how much of a toll they have on Macbeth. Not only do they foreshadow the majority of events that will soon take place, but they also propose many feelings of suspense. The witches come together to trick, mislead, and bring upon a deceiving perception of confidence toward Macbeth. As the idea of Macbeth losing his free will slowly comes into play as the story progresses, there is no doubt the three witches are depicted as the main antagonists in the play. Throughout William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the witches

The witches prove they are good at this by successfully manipulating him into committing all the murders throughout the play. Although they never specifically told him to kill these people they told him things that would to some degree make him want to do it. In Catherine H. Zuckert’s journal article, she states, “The "art" of these mysterious beings does not give them the power to kill, but it does enable them to harm human beings, like Macbeth, by misleading them” (Zuckert 499). These supernatural entities were never given the right to kill Macbeth or any other characters, so to achieve what they want they had to give these characters a sense of inclination that will eventually make them thirst for more than they already have. The witches take other precautions to ensure they have a good hold on Macbeth and his decision-making. The most valid is how they mislead him through their tricks, deceptions, and strategies of manipulation. As previously indicated the witches cannot hurt Macbeth physically, but this does not stop them from getting into Macbeth's head and causing harm from inside. Manipulation is one of the strongest skills for the witches to possess and they use it to their advantage. All they had to do was tell him one thing, whether it was true or false, and Macbeth would run off and in a sense ruin his own life. Without actually telling Macbeth to kill the King, they somewhat implemented those thoughts in his mind through their strong influence. In the play, Hecate says to the witches, “…how did you dare / To trade and traffic with Macbeth / In riddles and affairs of death” (Shakespeare 3.5. 396). Proving that witches had been messing with Macbeth's decisions and sanity through their schemes and aspirations. As Hecate said, the witches had been interfering with Macbeth’s future since early on in the play and they continued up until the end. Another