Why witches?

There are many references to witches throughout the play, but why? Well, it was said that the king of Scotland at the time was very interested in witchcraft and Shakespeare had to incorporate witches in order to obtain approval to make the play itself. While this could be the reason Shakespeare made witches a key character in his play, he had always decided to implement witchcraft into his plays in some way. In The Tempest, Prospero comments that Caliban’s ‘‘mother was a witch, and one so strong that could control the moon.’’ In Macbeth, the three weird sisters are not always referred to as witches, they are also called "instruments of darkness", "midnight hags", and "nights black agents". This detail is to show the audience that these witches are not from our natural universe. Thus showing his personal knowledge of witchcraft and it's capabilities.

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