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"MACBETH" The Weird Sisters PDF Print E-mail
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Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00

 

"Where hast thou been, sister?/ Killing swine."(act 1, scene 3, lines 1-2) They find enjoyment in death. Their evilness really develops when they describe the punishment for the fat woman who wouldn't share her chestnuts, "I'll drain him dry as hay./ Sleep shall neither night nor day..."(act 1, scene 3, lines 19-20) Those lines are brutal because they basically say that they are going to put the woman's husband through a living hell. Another level of their wickedness is how they use trickery to manipulate Macbeth by saying that he will be king, "All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!"(act 1, scene 3, line 53) The witches own evil is what leads to the transformation into Macbeth become evil. The witches do not live in a world of heroism or equality, but in a world of darkness and magic. The easiest sign of this is in the way Shakespeare presents them; they do not speak like any other of the characters, "Thrice to thine and thrice to mine/ And thrice again, to make up nine."(act 1, scene 3, lines 36-37) The witches use Macbeth as a puppet because in their world he doesn't stand a chance. He can't use his sword to combat the forces of evil and supernatural. The unnatural world is the total opposite of Macbeth's world, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair,/Hover through the fog and filthy air."(act 1, scene 1, lines 12-13) That chant represents the imbalance and conflict of the worlds. The battle of the worlds is the undeniable war that can only be vanquished by someone that is pure in mind and in soul. The power of evil is only able to influence the minds of the weak. Macbeth, being weak of mind, is easily tempted by the thought of wearing the crown, "If chance will have me king, then why, chance may/crown me/Without my stir."(act 1, scene 3, lines 157-159) The evil sisters even predict when they will first meet him, "When the hurly-burly's done,/When the battle's lost and won./That will be ere the set of sun."(act 1, scene 1, lines 3-5). The most evident use of the powers is demonstrated through their disappearance into the earth, "The earth hath bubbles, as the water has,/And these are of them."(act 1, scene 3, lines 82-83) Macbeth is a pawn in their game of deceit and treachery, but yet doesn't even realize it. They toy with him through their supernatural powers which conquer his good being and make him evil. The imbalance of worlds is dominated by the witches. Their tales are turned to truths by the weak and greedy mind of Macbeth. He is altered by the sisters unnatural, supernatural and evil elements. Although they do not live in Macbeth's world of justice and government they manage to rearrange it into the unnatural world, "Away, and mock the time with fairest show./False face must hide what the false heart doth/ know."(act 1, scene 7, lines 94-96)

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