Essay on the witches

From the very first scene of Macbeth we are introduced to the witches. This straight away shows us the significance of these characters as they are the first to be shown to the reader. Throughout the play we find that they always bring the gothic element back to the play, from the first scene with the scenery of 'thunder and lightening' they play a big part in the supernatural theme and always keep the paranormal aura surrounding each act. Furthermore they always make the reader curious and fascinated as they often talk in riddles 'When the battle's lost and won.' And when they talk to Banquo and Macbeth we find ourseleves empathising with those two characters as this the first time that they are being introduced to the witches and the reactions they go through we can follow, either accepting like Banquo or challenging as Macbeth is. We find that they play a large role as they are the key to how Macbeth will act, if they had never told him of his future possibilities he would never have killed King Duncan. Yet are they the reason for his destiny is a different matter. They could be in the sense that if they didnt tell him he wouldnt go on to commit the future events that do lead him to King, yet they could also just be the messengers in something more vast and big than Macbeth and the witches put together. They could all be pawns in chess game, the witches as the messengers and Macbeth to whom they influence. The destiny could be above even the witches authority which always seem to overshadow everyone else's status, specially Macbeth's even when he is King this does not matter to the witches and they always seem to be detached from the wordly events and affairs of men, yet always on a higher plane, thinking of the bigger picture.
The witches are extemely significant because we can interpret their intentions in so many different ways that this will always add controversy and curiousity to the reader, either they want to help Macbeth avoid being killed by Macduff or that they know he is on the path of self destruction and are only adding to that destruction.