The role of witches in MacbethWhen Shakespeare wrote his play Macbeth in 1606, a large majority of people were interested in witchcraft. This is why Shakespeare made witches and their prophecies play a major role in the plot of the play. In Macbeth's time, witches were not considered supernatural beings themselves, but were believed to gain their powers by selling their souls to Satan. There is no doubt that most of Shakespeare's audience would have believed in witches and, at least for the purposes of the play, Shakespeare also accepted their reality. The three witches from the tragedy Macbeth are introduced at the beginning of the play and the brief opening scenes give an immediate impression of mystery, horror and uncertainty. This is a sign of things to come as witchcraft is used as one of the main themes of the play. Witches create an atmosphere of evil and disorder. In the opening scene, the weather is adorned with thunder and lightning, reflecting how witches are perceived. When you think of thunder and lightning you think of evil and destruction, which is exactly how the witches are depicted in this play. They are evil and cause destruction in Macbeth's life. Banquo says in Act 1, Scene 3, line 124: "The instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us over with honest trifles, only to betray them with deepest consequences." witches. He calls them instruments of darkness and the devil. He believes that these prophecies will only bring harm before anything even begins to happen. He sees past the witches and can see that they are evil as Macbeth is taken in by the witches and this 'blindness' is what causes his downward spiral o...... middle of paper .... ..e is responsible for his own destiny. This is an essential theme of this tragedy. Macbeth chooses to play with his soul and when he does, it is he alone who chooses to lose it. He is responsible for everything he does and must take full responsibility for his actions. Macbeth is the one who made the final decision to carry out his actions. He made these final decisions and continued the killings to cover up that of King Duncan. However, while some facts show that the results are all of his own making, in Act 4 he voluntarily returns to the witches to learn his fate in order to see what actions he should take. This suggests that witches had a great influence on his actions. Work cited Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Literature: an introduction to fiction, poetry and drama. Ed. XJ Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 7th ed. New York: Longman, 1999.