Macbeth’s Witches: Unraveling the Theme of Evil in William Shakespeare’s Play

Ambition and power come together hand by hand. A good example of this is the tragic play "Macbeth", written by the best playwright of all: William Shakespeare. Even though Shakespeare lived in the 15th century, his play is situated in the 11th century and it is a historical event that took place in Scotland. In the tragic play "Macbeth", Shakespeare, uses 3 central elements that influence in the personalities that people of the 11th century had and that is very different from the one we, 20th century people have, evil, ambition and power.

Macbeth, the central character of the play, is a good person, but his personality gives a 90 degrees turn throughout the story. Evil is the worst thing on Earth. It affects everyone. In this drama, evil is represented in the figure of three human beings: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and the 3 witches. The number three in the play is a very good clue. Cause it represents the holly threesome that is the father, the son and the holly spirit; and throughout the play we see the number 3 constantly. In order to commit evil, Macbeth gains bravery by two forces that act over him and that are evil: Lady Macbeth and the witches. If Macbeth had met the witches, he would have never committed evil.

A very good example of the manifestation of the power of evil on the play, is the sudden breakdown of Macbeth`s personality. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth appears as a hero, he is brave and loyal to his king. Three witches encounter Macbeth and address him as Thane of Cawdor and as the future king.