The Role of Witches in Macbeth

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Macbeth Meeting the Witches

Macbeth (1606)

The Weird Sisters were a trio of old hags who appeared in front of Macbeth one day and hailed him as the Thane of both Cawdor and Glamis as well as the king of Scotland, though he only held one of those positions at the time. From their first appearances, though, the sisters embody every stereotype of the witch: They're old women who know far more than they should about Macbeth's future, they curse a man at sea because his wife wouldn't share her chestnuts, they kill pigs for their own purposes, and they also happen to work under the direction of Hecate, who was often referred to when speaking of witchcraft during this time. Shakespeare was known for adding supernatural elements to his plays and what better way to properly incorporate witchcraft into the story than to draw on common beliefs surrounding witchcraft? This would mean, however, that witches and supernatural happenings in Shakespearian plays not only drew on local belief, it presumably also influenced it and contributed to the witch stereotype. 

The witches in this case were also the trigger that initiated evil; if they hadn't appeared to Macbeth and informed him of his future, he would have no reason to send a message to his wife informing her of the meeting. If Lady Macbeth, who could have been called a witch of sorts in her own right, hadn't gotten wind about her husband's potential climb to power, she wouldn't have manipulated him into killing the good king. Toppling another domino in the effect, would Macbeth have gone from spineless thane to bloodthirsty and powerhungry king of Scotland if he hadn't been talked into starting with the old king? It's unlikely. 
Therefore, one could say that the witches existed to cause chaos and destroy order where there had previously been harmony in the land, a testament to their evil powers and a reason to cause alarm in 17th century viewers regarding the true powers of witchcraft. Even though it would have been understood that Shakespearian witches were stretched stereotypes and served to further the plot, the fact of the matter is that they were a part of popular media which helped to reinforce the sterotype of the old hag of a witch.

 

William Shakespeare, Macbeth, (1606). http://shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/full.html

Picture:
Linder, Douglas. UMKC School of Law, "A Brief History of Witchcraft Persecutions before Salem." 
Last modified 2005. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/witchhistory.html.