It is also worth considering whether the witches aren't
just spirits or figments of the imagination. Shakespeare goes to great lengths when
they encounter Macbeth, both in Act I, scene iii and in Act IV, scene i, to have Macbeth
comment on the fact that they have disappeared before his very eyes. It is true that,
in Act I, Banquo also sees them, but there is not another soul in the play who does.
This is made very clear in Act IV, when Macbeth questions Lennox as to whether he hasn't
seen them passing by him.
Witches, in Shakespeare's day,
according to the judgement of soceity, were actual real people, most often women. We
know something of the condemning and burning of witches that ran rampant by our history
of the witch trials of Salem, Mass., and these same sorts of events were taking place
throughout Europe during Shakespeare's day. So, if witches were commonly understood to
be ordinary people with access to evil magic, why would Shakespeare create witches in
this play which could be considered to be figments of the
imagination?
One answer to this question could be that they
are meant to represent the evil impulses that are unleashed in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
upon considering the possibility that Macbeth could become king, upon giving in to their
greedy ambition. In this case, the witches aren't an external force that lead Macbeth
astray, but a manifestation of his own darker nature.
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