In Elizabethan times, witches were a natural part of life. Macbeth witnessed this, as seen in the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare. The evil forces that the weird sisters, who were witches, possessed, put Macbeth's mind in another direction. This direction was the beginning of his moral downfall and the destruction of his destiny. The weird sisters warned Macbeth of this in the three apparitions but he continued living his life without realizing that they were speaking of him.
Without the weird sisters, Macbeth would have lived a very different life. It is unknown whether it would have been better or worse. The weird sisters affected Macbeth in the worst way. They tempted him by addressing him as Thane of Cawdor, Thane of Glamis and future king, without ordering him to do anything to obtain these positions.
All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!
All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!
All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be King hereafter.
Lady Macbeth by George Cattermole.
Macbeth Consulting the Vision of the Armed Head. B...
English: Poster of Thos. W. Keene in William Shake...(Act 1, Scene 3, Lines 48-50)
With this information Macbeth was provided with incentive to kill Duncan the King of Scotland. He was tempted into believing that if the King was murdered, he was to become what the witches predicted. While the witches never said this, Macbeth assumed that that was what they meant and the subsequent murder of Duncan was carried out by Macbeth himself, but, he also ordered special murderers to kill Banquo, Lady Macduff and her children. The murder and bloodshed had absolutely nothing to do with the witches. Macbeth acted totally out of his own will and beliefs.
Although Macbeth murdered Duncan, it was not planned and thought out. When Macbeth heard the prediction given to him by the three witches, he wrote a letter to his wife (Lady Macbeth). On reading this...