Witches / Weird Sisters

• Weird sisters

  An unholy trinity, a trio of malevolent, supernatural characters
• Weird sisters

  • Their function in the drama is to encourage Macbeth in his evil inclinations
  • Their appearances in the play are brief, but they have an important function
• Shakespeare establishes the supernatural theme

  1. Via their association with disorder in Nature

  2. They appear amid thunder and lightning in a grim meeting on a "blasted heath"

  3. This contributes greatly to the tone of mysterious evil which pervades the play
• Supernatural world they represent

  • Terrifying to an audience because it is beyond human control
  • Symbolic of the unpredictable force of human desire, such as Macbeth's ruthless ambition to become King
• Weird sisters: '"Fair is foul, and foul is fair."'
• Weird sisters' relationship with Macbeth

  So entwined that the first line he speaks in the play is an echo of their riddle: "So fair and foul a day I have not seen."
• Deceptive pictures of the future

  • In their initial prediction of Macbeth becoming King
  • In the riddles given by the Apparitions which rise from the cauldron when Macbeth visits the witches for a second time
• Deceptive pictures of the future

  Encourage in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth a false sense of what is desirable and possible
• Magic of the witches

  Their ability to create moral disruption which, in Macbeth's case, leads to his death and subsequent damnation
• Macbeth is the master of his own destiny and acts out of free will