Macbeths Analysis

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play.
Just as their words are confusing, the witches' entire role in the play is ambiguous. They speak of the future, yet they seem unable to affect the course of the future. Banquo fears that the witches' words will "enkindle [Macbeth] unto the crown," that they will awaken in Macbeth an ambition that is already latent in him (I.iii 132). And in fact this seems to be the case; as soon as the witches mention the crown, Macbeth's thoughts turn to murder (I.iii 152). The witches' power over Macbeth is confined to suggestion and prophecy; they are the final push needed to drive him to his pre-determined goal. Are the witches therefore merely mouthpieces of fate? There is a connection between these oracular women and the Fates of Greek myth, and in fact the word "Weird" comes from an Old English word "wyrd," which means "fate." In Macbeth's case, their prophecies serve only to suggest the future, not to affect it. In Banquo's case, however, the witches seem to be able to affect the future as well as predict it, because unlike Macbeth, Banquo does not act on the witches' prediction that he will father kings. Despite his inaction, the witches' prophesy comes true. Their role in the story, therefore, is difficult to determine. Can they affect the future as well as predict it? Are they agents of fate or a motivating force? Why do they suddenly disappear from the play in the third act? These questions are never answered.
The ambiguity of the Weird Sisters reflects a greater theme of doubling, mirrors, and schism between inner and outer worlds that permeates the work as a whole. Throughout the play, characters, scenes, and ideas are doubled; for example, as Duncan muses about the treachery of one Thane of Cawdor in I.iv, Macbeth enters:

There's no art
To find the mind's construction in the face.
He was a gentleman on whom I built
An absolute trust.
Enter Macbeth, Banquo, Ross, and Angus.
O worthiest cousin,
The sin of my ingratitu...