William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and an actor who lived in in the 16th and 17th centuries. Shakespeare wrote many dramatic tragedies. One of his many dramatic tragedies was, Macbeth (Shakespeare, 1993). Macbeth’s tragedy dealt with the murder of King Duncan. Many characters in this play lead up to the murder of King Duncan. The three Witches, in my opinion, are primarily responsible for the tragedy.
Although we know that King Duncan was murdered by Macbeth, the Witches were the major influence to the murder of Duncan. At first, Macbeth had no desire to kill King Duncan. After Macbeth met the Witches, the Witches foretold Macbeth’s future. Had Macbeth and his partner, Banquo gone home without meeting …show more content…
Had the Witches not introduced their third prophecy to Macbeth, he would have most likely not thought about becoming king after becoming thane of Cawdor. This is another reason to why the Witches are primarily responsible for the tragedy. The Witches, being evil and powerful supernatural characters, who can also control the future, plot an evil scheme and use Macbeth, who is not a virtuous man, but an ambitious one and is an easy target for evil and violence.
Later on after the great tragedy, the Witches appear to meet Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft (46). Hecate also fools Macbeth and helps the three witches continue the mischief on Macbeth. Hecate says, “How did you dare to trade and traffic with Macbeth in riddles and affairs of death,” (46). This tells us that the Witches were part of the murder of …show more content…
The Witches being primarily responsible for the tragedy shows us how we are controlled by destiny and fate. No matter how we choose to do something, we will end up how we were destined to be. The Witches cast a spell on Macbeth and foretell his future, and Macbeth becomes interested after the second prophecy comes to be. Macbeth then decides to kill Duncan, which was part of the Witches evil scheme. Perhaps, if Macbeth waited until he became king, then maybe there would have been no tragedy, therefore, no