Witches in Macbeth To what extent are the witches in the tragedy Macbeth responsible for Macbeth’s actions? The Three witches in the tragedy Macbeth are introduced right at the beginning of the play. They recount to Macbeth three prophecies. That Macbeth will be Thane of Cawdor, Thane of Glams and King. These prophecies introduce Macbeth to ideas of greatness. Macbeth will eventually follow through on killing king Duncan. It was sometimes thought that the …showed first 75 words of 913 total…

…showed last 75 words of 913 total…the witches prophesies, he is tempted and refuses to listen to reason from Banquo. When the second set of prophesies Macbeth receives begin to show their faults Macbeth blames the witches for deceiving him with half-truths. While the witches are not totally responsible for the actions of Macbeth, they are responsible for introducing the ideas to Macbeth, which in turn fired up Macbeth’s ambition and led to a disastrous and unnecessary chain of events.