Theme Of Witchcraft In Macbeth

As a spectator of this play, and as subjects of the king, the citizens of England would be familiar with the expectations of a Christian to refuse to engage in such situations as outlined in King James I own words about fortune-telling “what persones should be fortunate or unfortunate: what side shall winne in anie battell” and “this parte is utterlie unlawful to be trusted in or practiced among Christians.” (King James I, 13) However, Macbeth absorbs the information the vile sisters suggest to him and is forever changed from that moment. Shakespeare is practically offering the crowds of theater-goers a public service announcement on the repercussions of fraternizing with the devil, who as commonly understood by the population, could manifest
Lady Macbeth wastes no time in concocting a sinister plot to hasten her husbands rise to power. Benevolent, magnanimous King Duncan who has just elevated her husbands title thereby securing his stature in territory and power, will have to die. And in the course of her conniving she concludes she is in need of supernatural assistance. In “Witch in History” Lady Macbeth is described as another of Shakespeare’s viragos “symbolically allied with witchcraft. Witchcraft is the resort of women because it symbolizes the only way they can work politically: by stealth, in secret, rather than on the public field of battle or debate” (Purkiss,
The theme of prophesy in Macbeth is not unintentional and the purpose is to send a message to the audience. “The witch again works to signify a narrative occasion for a threat to the state whose revelation equates with neutralization.” (Purkiss, 191) Macbeth finds the witches hovering in a cavern, tossing all the customary and expected ingredients necessary to conjure divination into a seething cauldron while they recite their incantation. He implores/demands that they reveal his destiny, again. And he is consumed and afflicted by the potential in their