Macbeth

A detailed Summary of Macbeth

Macbeth: Analysis of the Witches Prophecies

The witches' prophecies and the prophecies of the apparitions raised by the witches have a major influence on Macbeth and the outcome of the play. In a way Macbeth sets out to make the prophecies come true by killing Duncan, rather than waiting and letting them come true on their own.

When Macbeth and Banquo are traveling through the forest to the King's court in Forres, they come across these witches. The First witch hails Macbeth as the Thane of Glamis. This prophecy doesn't really bother Macbeth because it is already true and he knows it, therefore it really doesn't have any impact on the outcome of the play.

The second witch hails Macbeth as the Thane of Cawdor. This truly baffles Macbeth because Ross and Angus haven't come to tell Macbeth of the Kings decision to make him Thane of Cawdor. This impacts the outcome of the play because when Ross and Angus do tell Macbeth of his new position, Macbeth thinks that if this has come true then the prophecy of becoming king will surely come true.

The third witch tells Macbeth that he will one day become king. This prophecy causes Macbeth to become stunned and intrigued, and he tries to press the witches for further information

but the witches vanish into thin air. This prophecy also comes true because Macbeth eventually murders his cousin King Duncan to take his thrown and become King. This ultimately affects the outcome of the play because if Macbeth hadn't taken such drastic measures to become king then he would have never been killed the way he was killed.

The fact that Macbeth is influenced by the witches prophecies and apparitions is agreed with and disagreed with by several critics of this situation. One of the critics that disagree with this assessment is the great Shakespearean scholar George Lyman Kittredge. Kittredge argues that the witches are not really witches but more like Norns. The Norns were goddesses who shaped the future of every man, and that after you were visited by one of these Norns, then you were just a puppet that they could do whatever with. Because a Norn not only told the future, but it could make the future. Therefore Kittredge declares that Macbeth has no power of fate once he sets eyes upon them. Another critic of this situation is Irving Ribner. Ribner states that Shakespeare was writing from a Christian rather than a pagan perspective. Thus, god gives all of man the right to chose good over evil even though temptation is normally presented in the matter, such as the thought of being king was presented to Macbeth, and it is up to them to decide their fate in a matter.

The third witc

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Approximate Word count = 955
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English