Macbeth: a Victim of Manipulation?

In the play “Macbeth”, William Shakespeare uses belief in the existence and power of witches to create and influence the audience’s understanding of the play. Our initial impression of Macbeth is one of a brave and capable warrior, however once we see his interaction with the three “evil sisters” (Shakespeare, 1996) we realises that his physical audacity is coupled by an intense amount of ambition and self doubt. It is believed that the witches are the motive behind this ambition which eventually leads to his tragedy, however strong diverging arguments are in existence. The intensity of Macbeth’s tragedy is dependent on whether or not the witches are “professed to be able to control the naïve, innocent Macbeth” or whether he is to blame for his own “wrongful doings and demise”. Through analyses of Macbeth’s actions, explanation will be made regarding the role of witches in society during the seventeenth century, as well as the views of past audiences and their understanding of these witches.
In today’s society witchcraft is very diminished; we do not believe that witches have authority over us, but in Shakespearean point in time they played a significant function. Members of society regarded witches in a fearful manner yet at the same time with a great amount of respect. “The belief in the existence and power of witches was widely believed in Shakespeare’s day, as demonstrated by the European witch craze, during which an estimated nine million women were put to death for being perceived as witches” (Traux, 1990: 54). The custom of witchcraft was seen to “interfere with the order of society and religion” (Penczak, 2002: 44), hence it was not endured. Majority of society in the seventeenth century therefore believed in the power of witches. Shakespeare’s creation of the witches or who could otherwise be referred to as the “weird sisters” could have been due to several reasons, one of these being the anti- witchcraft law passed by King James prior to this period

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