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A Deed Without A Name: The Significance Of Witches In Macbeth - Term Papers

A Deed Without A Name: The Significance Of Witches In Macbeth

Shakespeare uses the witches in Macbeth for two main reasons. Firstly, to show how desire, ambition and greed are often more powerful than reason, and secondly for dramatic effect which comes from the confusion surrounding their identity and the vagueness of their prophecies. These two reasons, and the characters they represent, can be seen as two of the main, but somewhat hidden, factors behind Macbeth.
The witches are fundamental characters because they are able to prophesize the future. In many situations, characters are faced with the decision of whether or not to rely on faith that these prophecies are true, or to act upon them to ensure that they do come true. Shakespeare uses the ...

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becomes Thane of Cawdor, he thinks only of soon becoming the King. Even shortly after becoming Thane, his thoughts are already on murder. “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir.” (Act 1, Scene 3, Lines 143-144). Macbeth says this because he does not wish to take any action. If it is his destiny to be King, then fate will determine that regardless of his actions. However, Macbeth does not stick to this plan. Instead he is persuaded by his wife, who’s judgment is clouded by the witches prophecies and dreams of being Queen of Scotland, to murder Duncan. It can be said that both Macbeth’s actions and those of Lady Macbeth, are a result of the prophesy of the weird sisters and that when the sisters told Macbeth that he would one day be king, they were meddling with his mind. All the rest of Macbeth’s evil deeds can be traced back to the prophesies of the witches. The closer Macbeth comes to living out the predictions of the weird sisters, the more greedy ...

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A Deed Without A Name: The Significance Of Witches In Macbeth. (2006, September 29). Retrieved January 6, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Deed-Without-Name-Significance-Witches-Macbeth/53118

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"A Deed Without A Name: The Significance Of Witches In Macbeth." Essayworld.com. September 29, 2006. Accessed January 6, 2026. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Deed-Without-Name-Significance-Witches-Macbeth/53118.

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 9/29/2006 02:17:31 AM
Category: Arts
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 1119
Pages: 5

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