Macbeth Act I

Let me begin by saying how much I love this play. One can never go wrong when there are witches involved. I particularly found the discussion on whether the witches are malicious or not rather interesting. I never gave the concept much thought because of my own personally reaction to them. Namely, I always viewed the witches as tricksters who were trying to entertain themselves by causing conflict because the witches cannot really benefit from Macbeth's downfall. That is why the class discussion was crucial for me in order to let me see the possibility of a different viewpoint because it never crossed my mind whether the witches were just stating facts like prophets. The movie predominantly allowed me to see how this interpretation can be possible. I also found the discussion of gender interesting as well. If one views the witches from solely a female perspective of the time period, one would expect Shakespeare is simply encouraging the stereotypical view that women are evil troublemakers. However, if one notes how the witches have male characters that make them hideous unisex abnormalities one can see how such characteristics can either encourage trust on Macbeth's part due to their masculinity, or mistrust due to such inhuman deformities. As a result, one can either interpret these witches as trustworthy or mischievous depending on one's opinion.