William Shakespeare's the Tradgey of Macbeth: Prophecies

The words of the prophetic witches encouraged the actions of the ambitious Macbeth to seize a kingdom and brought him to his demise. Without the knowledge these supernatural beings provided, Macbeth would have possibley never killed anyone. Although with his character flaw being a desire for power he might have ended up killing people to get to the top anyways. Regardless, the witches played a pivotal role in Macbeth’s actions.

Before any predictions were made about Macbeth, he was “ ... Like valor’s minion ....” (Macbeth, ActI, Scene ii, p. 308), or so he seemed, when he fought for King Duncan but after his ear consumed the witches words he thought “ ... why do I yield to that suggestion (thought to murder King Duncan) ... ”(Macbeth, ActI, Scene iv, p. 315). By scene ii, AcII Macbeth has already “done the deed” of killing King Duncan, “ ... He[Macbeth] is already named, and gone to Scone,” even before King Duncan is in the ground. He even killed his friend Banquo so his sons would not become kings.

Now, in Macbeth’s time, prophecies