New Paltz Students Blogging about Shakespeare
Monday, May 2, 2011
The Problem of the Witches' Powers
After the first reading of Macbeth, I was extremely skeptical as to whether or not the witches had any actual power. Were the witches actually able to see the future? Or were they simply able to effectively plant ideas in the heads of their victims that make their prophecies come true? For instance, it's clear that Macbeth, before meeting with the witches, had no intentions of killing Duncan. In fact, it seems that he had never even considered the possibility of being King. So could it be that there was not actually a determined future in which Macbeth became King, but that the prophecy merely fulfilled itself simply by its being suggested? This seems perfectly reasonable in this one case, but how does it hold up for the rest of their prophecies? It would be very hard to set up a self-fulfilling prophecy where both Macbeth becomes king and Banquo's line inherits the throne. While it could be foreseeable on the part of the witches that Macbeth would kill Duncan when presented with the prophecy, and they could even have predicted that Banquo and his family would be Macbeth's next target as a result of the prophecy, but how could they have known that Fleance would get away? Even less plausible, how could the witches have known that "Great Birnam Wood" would move to Dunsinane Hill? Those with the branches haven't even heard their prophecy. The only answer is that they actually do have supernatural powers of foresight. My problem then is this: What does this say of the free will of the characters? If the witches can see everything that will happen in the future, and these things are determined to happen, how could they even go on, knowing not only that their fate is destined but what they are destined to do? And to what extent is Macbeth responsible for the death of Duncan? He was destined to do so, and as an agent who is merely thrust into existence to endure his deterministic sentence, who exactly are we blaming when we say Macbeth is responsible for Duncan's death? It seems more likely to me that the witches don't simply have foresight of all events of the future, but rather that they are able to curse specific victims to fates which they can't avoid.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I think this is an interesting point of view that I never thought of. I understand your point in that you say maybe it is not Macbeth's fault in the deaths of the other people, but instead the witches fault because they are determining the fates of all these people. It is an understandable perspective and I could see it being plausible. The witches have introduced and foreshadowed just about everything that is happening in the play and as a direct result it is turning Macbeth mad with all these things that they make him paranoid about.
I thoroughly enjoyed thinking over your post, and I believe that the witches were able to easily persuade a gullible and eager Macbeth. You made some clear points, such as the fact Macbeth had no thought of killing Duncan or becoming king until the witches embedded it into his head. When one is seeking to look into the future, they are easily gullible to believe in anything and then change their courses of action because they believe it is "fate".
Excellent post! I really enjoyed the points that you made regarding fate, and our own involvement in it versus a supernatural power's control. I wonder though, since you brought up the fact that the fault of Duncan's murder lies indirectly on the witches, rather than Macbeth, if one could say that the real fault lies in whatever higher power has control over fate? Is it God? Nature? The universe? We can go on and on placing the blame, but where would it end? Also, maybe the witches are there simply to curse specific people, but I think the possibility also still holds that they are simply messengers of the universe, who exist to inform people of their destinies. Unfortunately, people think that they can avoid their fates, and try to do whatever they can to turn them around. If they truly respected and believed in the witches, they would not have to endure the agony of defeat.
You make a really good point. However, I think that the witches may just be incredibly good at manipulating the actions of those they come into contact with. Their only real power seems to come from the actions that characters took to prevent the witches prophesy. If Macbeth had just ignored them, would the assassination of Duncan ever have occurred at all?
Post a Comment