I need to edit my Macbeth research paper.. the prompt is Choose an implausible or strikingly unrealistic incident or character in a work of fiction or drama of recognized merit. Write an essay that explains how the incident or character is related to the more realistic of plausible elements in the rest of the work. I chose Shakespeare's play Macbeth and his encounter with the three witches.
Witches or fates are a popular superstition, women, who are possess by their familiars , they often determine the actions of humans without regarding their personalities. In Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth, Macbeth is a successful warrior and Thane of Glamis in Scotland under the reign of King Duncan. On their way back from war to the castle of Duncan, Macbeth and his loyal friend Banquo are met by the weïrd sisters. During the meeting, the weïrd sisters prophecy Macbeth as Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and at last as King of Scotland. Shakespeare utilizes the unrealistic incident of the three witches to foreshadow Macbeth's future and where his hunger for power starts to demonstrate that by a simple possibility to better your position people are willing to risk who they are and what they have.
The weïrd sisters are planning to meet "with Macbeth" at the beginning of the play to foretell his new acquired title as "Thane of Cawdor," (Shakespeare i. i. 7) this prediction has Macbeth worked up since "The Thane of Cawdor lives." (Shakespeare i. iii. 21) and is impossible for him to be thane. He is perturbed by the prophecy of the witches until his noble friend Ross comes by and announces that the King has made him Thane of Glamis and Cawdor to thank him for his valor actions during war. The correct prediction of the three witches has Macbeth wondering what else the witches are right about, which leads to the start of Macbeth's "unbridled ambition" (Bradley, 40). It is pitiful to see Macbeth fall into the traps of the witches that only want him to fall to his doom. Macbeth is a loyal man to King Duncan who just bestowed him with another important title in Scotland, but the witches' veracity on the predictions have made Macbeth question his pledge of loyalty to Duncan. We could see that this is the first waver to Macbeth's moral standards.
During the meeting between Macbeth and the three witches, they act as prophets who predict "that [Macbeth] shalt be king...," (Shakespeare i. iii. 17) with the last prediction being true Macbeth has started to harvest the seed of ambition that the witches had planted with the last prophecy. In order for Macbeth to become king, King Duncan has to be killed and his successors vanished from Scotland. With this last prediction we could see that "...the witches are more clearly forces of pure evil..." (Lynch, 31-32) It is pitiful to see a successful, noble men fall into the trap of old witches that are "unable to ruin him directly, they must tease him into ruining himself." (Fergusson, 60) Macbeth is now in a predicament; he must choose whether to continue his loyalty towards Duncan or follow the witches' prophecy and betray everything he believes in. The witches are responsible for the things Macbeth does in the future due to their instigations.
Macbeth has become "...obsessed with the possibility of his becoming king..." (Shakespeare i. iii. 138) that he is willing to betray Duncan's trust and risk losing his title as Thane of Glamis and Cawdor. The witches are the ones to blame on Macbeth's murderers in the play because of the "half-truths... [they] tempt [him]." In Act IV, scene 1 the witches "[show] their bond with evil" thru the lasts "necromancy" (Fergusson. 60) prophecies that taunt Macbeth to ruin himself. This is the last scene in which the weïrd sisters appear and make Macbeth draw the last to straw to his doom. He will do whatever it takes to protect his "fruitless crown" (iii. i. 85) and it is willing to kill Macduff's innocent family for betraying him and leaving to England.
During the apparitions of the weïrd sisters we have learn that they manipulated Macbeth to his impending doom. They are the ones that have filled Macbeth with "half-truths" that caused him to betray his King and become a murderer of innocent people. Due to Macbeth's drive for power he has broken his entire moral senses and become a power hungry king that is always paranoid.
