The Three Witches In Macbeth

“What is the significance of the three witches in Macbeth?” In this essay, I am seeking to answer the question: “What is the significance of the three witches in Macbeth?”. In order to answer this, I will look at the following things: what I believe Shakespeare intended the witches to represent; what the witches aim to achieve throughout the play; and what they do ultimately achieve and its ramifications by the end of Macbeth. First …

…audience, the witches would have seemed very concrete indeed, in psychological or “modern” terms, the witches, I believe, must signify an externalisation of his inner ambition and greed, the chink, if you will, in the armour of his character. After all, the witches were there because his morals were weakened, and his morals were weakened because the witches were there. It is entirely self-fulfilling, and Macbeth is the only one who could ever fulfil himself.