Upon meeting the three evil witches, Macbeth learns of his opportunity to gain higher titles: " ...All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! / All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!" (I.iii.5-6). Currently, Macbeth reigns solely as thane of Glamis. He becomes thane of Cawdor at the courageous death of the original thane. Macbeth then seizes his destiny when he kills Duncan, king of Scotland, the title promised to him by the witches. Macbeth grows trust in the three evil witches due to their accurate predictions of his current standing as the thane of Cawdor and king of Scotland. With all of this trust in the three evil witches, Macbeth conjures their tainted knowledge again. This time he seeks to learn of his destiny: "Tell me, thou unknown power," (IV.i.53). He requests knowledge from the apparitions rather than from the witches themselves. The witches now brew three apparitions of evil wisdom to visit Macbeth.

The first, a head, fully dressed in armor, greatly foreshadows Macbeth's death both visually and with his words: "Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!

beware Macduff; / Beware the Thane of Fife (IV.i.53). At these wise words, Macbeth is initially scared. He fails, however, to comprehend the visual itself. Towards the end, he insists on wearing full armor: "Give me my armour...I'll put it on...Give me mine armour" (V.iii.74). Macbeth's insecurity relates to the apparition of the armored head because in full armor, Macduff decapitates Macbeth. It is with uneasy patience that he awaits the next apparition.

Finally, the third apparition, a crowned child with a tree in his hand, foreshadows the plan of attack on Macbeth slyly losing that clarity when he foretells Macbeth of his destiny: "Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until / Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill / Shall come against him (IV.i.54). Again, Macbeth overlooks the visual aide so blatantly obvious before him. The third apparition fails to explain to Macbeth that Birnam woods will come to Dunsinane hill, therefore Macbeth is far from safe when soldiers creep up to Dunsinane hill using broken limbs to camouflage themselves thus paralleling the third apparition. His Hubris, however, prevents his capability to see these foreshadowing hints.

As the apparitions fade away, one last visual floats past Macbeth. Eight kings now pass Macbeth followed by Banquo and all he seems to do is ignore them and

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 895
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)