the witches

• the witches are presented in the play to appeal to king Duncan, they are symbols of evil and malicious power who work together to "meet with Macbeth", to win his soul and bring him "harm".
• and Shakespeare does this warn his audience that any thoughts they might have regarding regicide are likely to have been prompted by satanic forces, reinforcing the message that regicide is a crime against God and the great chain of being
• the king has just experiences an attempt of the Gunpowder plot. therefore the witchcraft here is to serve as a warning to anyone trying to usurp the throne. Shakes trying to visibly protect the king
• the play is a political propaganda to make the thoughts of usurping the throne as unnatural and evil- to the nobles that it was presented to
• Baquo- to show that the king is from a noble lineage
• Alternative interpretation

  Shakespeare does not believe in witch craft-the witches perform several charms but in no time did they control the weather.

  instead, the question about seeing in "thunder..." might be reflecting in seeing into the future events that perhaps awaits Macbeth.

  they do mention "I'll send a wind" only as a form of help not destruction, subtly questions James's beliefs about the supernatural attempts to end his life
• more alternative evidence

  he references( through a witch)"a pilot's thumb, wrecked as homeward he did come"- as one of the ingredients in their charm/potion. the pilot leads out of safety, fails his task and sinks the ship- referring to how the so called attack on his ship is simply as a result of human error- signalling the witches lack of direct power as they didn't cause anything- subtly undermining the idea that the supernatural had anything to do with the regicide in the first place- the powerlessness of the witches
• they speak in Trochaic tetrameter

  • opposite of iambic - doesn't make them sound sinister or other worldly but makes them sound silly, and like a nursery rhyme- mocks the idea of witches, seperates them from other characters as they are almost like a comedic addition to the plot ?
• "here I have a pilot's thumb, wrecked as homemade he did come"
• "here I have a pilot's thumb, wrecked as homemade he did come"

  thumb- signalling to control/ direction - they cant actually exert any kind of spell over him but what they can do is manipulate him and steer him into a part of destruction through his own actions
• "hand in hand"
• " if you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not."- do witches actually have any

  power or is it simply intelligence ?
• they do not actually know the future but what they do know is that if they tell Macbeth the prophecies his ambition will carry on and get the job done- when Macbeth asks them why they meet him "with such prophetic greeting" - they simply vanish without a response- showing how they are leaving Macbeth to have his internal conflict
• Lady Macbeth exposes the witches lack of power by referring to them as "spirits that tend to mortal thoughts"- showing how their only power is manipulation and influencing the thoughts of humans and not actual magical spells
• "I heard a voice cry 'sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep'"

  ambiguity- could it have been the witches, or is it just the psychological effects of guilt
• Hecate condemns the witches for tampering with Macbeth