The Witches

• The ‘weird sisters’ are the first characters we are introduced to, signifying their importance throughout the play.
• Despite the play being named after Macbeth, we learn from the beginning that it is the witches who are actually the leaders of this story and, indeed, his life.
• Their introduction shows them casting a spell, making it clear to the audience that these three women are believed to have supernatural powers and this is the reason they have been cast from society. They also have beards, making them look different and unacceptable in society.
• The extent to which the magic is believed depends very much on the audience being spoken about and must be discussed.
• The First Witch is seen as the leader of the trio. She speaks mainly of things that are in the past, and asks questions. She is vengeful, can fly about in a sieve, and command the winds. Her familiar is a cat named Greymalkin.
• The Second Witch speaks of present things, rather than past or future. Like her sisters, she can command winds. Her familiar is a toad named Paddock.
• The Third Witch speaks of future things. Like her sisters, she can command winds. Her familiar is an owl, named Harpier. 
• Regardless of whether the audience believe the witches to be human or supernatural, all can agree Shakespeare has presented them as the embodiment of evil.
• They are fixed characters, unlike others in the play, Macbeth, especially, they do not change, as evil does not.
• They provide morally neutral information to Macbeth, which is interpreted by Macbeth is an evil way: he decides, based on their prophecy, to kill Duncan.
• Evil can be resisted by man but Macbeth chose not to, as we see in the act of him taking the throne.
• The witches could be seen as independent entities, toying with people’s lives; alternatively, they could be seen as agents of fate, whose prophecies are reports of the inevitable.
• Their descriptions mirror those of the Fates – women in Norse and Greek mythology who weave the fabric of human life and cut the threads to end them.
• Arguably, Macbeth becoming king was a self-fulfilling prophecy: without their involvement, Macbeth likely wouldn’t have murdered Duncan.
• The effect on the earth when the witches are present (thunder and lightning) would signify the idea that they are unnatural or ‘supernatural’.
• It can be argued that the witches know things that they shouldn’t – however, these can all be explained if necessary.
• Macbeth begins speaking in the same way as the witches (monosyllabic and spell-like), giving the impression they are channelling through him.
• They summon Hecate – the goddess of witchcraft – and speak to her. This is witnessed by Macbeth. How trustworthy his visions are at this stage in the play is open to discussion.
• Unlike all the other characters, the witches speak in rhyming couplets, mimicking constant chants and spells.
• They use rhyme and riddle ‘when the battle’s lost, and won’, as well as paradoxical lines ‘Fair is Foul, and Foul is Fair’. These lines produce equivocation (deliberately deceptive language), which is the witches’ greatest achievement.
• It is worth noting that the Three Weird Sisters are not routinely referred to as witches in the play - on the one occasion they are, one of the Sisters takes great offence.
• Their prophecies prompt Macbeth to kill Duncan, though they never specifically compel anyone to do anything. It makes us question whether a person's fate is already decided or whether we can change the course of our destiny.
• "When shall we three meet again? / In thunder, lightning, or in rain?"
• "Fair is foul, and foul is fair, / Hover through the fog and filthy air"
• "What are these, / So withered and wild in their attire, / That look not like the inhabitants o'th'earth, / And yet are on't" (Banquo)
• "You should be women, / And yet your beards forbid me to interpret / That you are so" (Banquo)
• "All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter"
• "If you can look into the seeds of time, / And say which grain will grow, and which will not, / Speak then to me" (Banquo)
• "Thou (Banquo) shalt get kings, though thou be none"
• "The earth hath bubbles, as the water has, / And these are of them." (Banquo)
• "Into the air; and what seemed corporal, / Melted as breath into the wind, / Would they have stayed" (Macbeth)
• "Were such things here as we do speak about?" (Banquo)
• "And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, / The instruments of darkness tell us truths, / Win us with honest trifles, to betray in deepest consequence" (Banquo)
• "Double, double, toil and trouble; / Fire burn, and cauldron bubble"
• "O, well done. I commend your pains, / And everyone shall share I'th'gains" (Hecate)
• "By the pricking of my thumb, / Something wicked this way comes"
• "How now, you secret, black and midnight hags?" (Macbeth)
• "Tell me, thou unknown power" (Macbeth)
• "He (Macbeth) will not be commanded. Here's another (apparition), / More potent than the first"
• "Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth. Beware Macduff"