Macbeth Essay: The Witches Prophecy and What They Could Mean

Macbeth Essay

Macbeth is the story of a man who, finding himself faced with a moment of choice, lets the bad side of his nature dominate him. He considers his choices carefully, looks at the alternatives, and deliberately chooses the course he knows to be evil. From this time on he seems unable to turn back to the good side. In the beginning, he starts out at the height of his success and honor, but then follows a long dark path to despair. Macbeth did not make these choices on his own though, there were other supernatural forces swaying his decisions. These forces are three witches who make six prophecies...

There are two sets of prophecies, one with three predictions each. One set is in the beginning of the book, and the second set near the end. The first prediction of the first set is that Macbeth will be made thane of Cawdor and eventually king of Scotland. This becomes true when the kings men, Ross and Angus, come to thank Macbeth for his victory in battle as a general and report to him that he has been named the Thane of Cawdor. The second prophecy says that Macbeth will eventually become king. This becomes true when Macbeth stabs King Duncan. The next morning when Duncan is discovered dead, Macbeth kills the chamberlains to, and easily becomes king. The third prophecy was that Macbeths companion Banquo's children will become king, but not Banquo. This comes true when Macbeth is later on killed in a battle with Macduff and Banquos son Malcolm becomes king.

The first prediction of the second set is that Macbeth must be aware of Macduff.Macduff opposed Macbeths reign as king and wanted to end it. This happens when Macbeth and Macduff meet in battle and Macduff eventually kills and beheads Macbeth. The second predication says that Macbeth is incapable of being harmed by any man born of women. This relieves Macbeth because all men are born of women, but Macduff was a c-section baby and was never born but taken from his mother's stomach. This becomes true when Macduff kills Macbeth in battle because Macduff was a c-section baby. The final prediction is that Macbeth will be safe until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Castle. He also feels good about this one to because he knows the woods cannot

move. He is frightened when he learns that the English army is advancing on Dunsinane shielded with boughs cut from Birnam Wood. Birnam Wood is coming