The Three Witches: Prophecy Without Responsibility
First appears: Act 1, Scene 1
The witches open the play in chaos: thunder, lightning, a question answered with paradox: 'Fair is foul, and foul is fair.' They set the tone for everything that follows. They predict. They do not cause.
That distinction is what makes them so dramatically effective. Macbeth could have heard the prophecy and done nothing. Banquo heard the same words and resisted. The witches know what Macbeth wants, and they give him permission to want it more nakedly. Whether they are supernatural beings, projections of Macbeth's ambition, or something in between is a question the play deliberately refuses to settle.
Their second appearance in Act 4, Scene 1 is more elaborate: the cauldron, the apparitions, the warning about Macduff, the promise that no man 'of woman born' can harm Macbeth. These feel like reassurances that are actually traps, technically true but practically lethal. Macbeth hears what he wants to hear, which is exactly what the witches count on.
Key Scenes
Famous Quotes
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair.”
The Three Witches — Act 1, Scene 1
“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.”
The Three Witches — Act 4, Scene 1
“Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble.”
The Three Witches — Act 4, Scene 1
Themes
Other Characters in Macbeth
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