thee thane of Cawdor Third Witch All hail Macbeth thou shalt be king hereafter At this point Macbeth is already Thane of Glamis and shortly after he learns he has been awarded the title of Thane of Cawdor This confirmation of the first two prophecies plants the seed of belief in the third Influencing Macbeth's Ambition The Prophecies kindle Macbeth's ambition acutely His initial reaction is shock and curiosity but he quickly becomes obsessed with becoming king This obsession is apparent when he says If chance will have me king why Chance may crown me Without my stir Here Macbeth expresses his thoughts on possibly becoming king by fate or chance without his active involvement However the witches' mere suggestion of his future kingship provokes his thoughts toward taking action to fulfill his ambition It also leads him to consider murder as a means to achieve his goals Manipulating Macbeth's Actions The witches indirectly control Macbeth by sparking his ambition Macbeth's sense of morality trembles once the vision of becoming king takes heart Though Lady Macbeth plays an important role the witches grow the initial idea Macbeth's internal conflict is evident when he struggles with the decision to kill King Duncan This decision marks the beginning of his moral decline and the disclosure of his character The Second Meeting and the Manifestations In Act Scene Macbeth becomes desperate to know more about his future He seeks out the witches again In a gruesome and lonely place he meets the witches who summon three apparitions that deliver confusing messages Beware Macduff none of woman born Shall harm Macbeth and Macbeth will not be vanquished until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill Shall come against him These prophecies encourage Macbeth and give him a false sense of supremacy He interprets them as assurances of his safety and continued power This leads him to take increasingly reckless and tyrannical actions The Final Downfall The witches' influence extends to Macbeth's final downfall The apparitions' prophecies come true unexpectedly This illustrates the witches' deceptive nature Macduff who was from his mother's womb untimely ripped fulfills the prophecy that no man born of a woman shall harm Macbeth Additionally the advancing army uses branches from Birnam Wood as camouflage making it appear like the forest is moving towards Dunsinane These fulfillments show the witches' manipulative half-truths leading Macbeth to his ultimate end The three witches in Macbeth significantly influence Macbeth's decision-making process and actions Through their influence Shakespeare explores themes of fate ambition and the consequences of allowing external forces to affect one's actions The witches' role in the play highlights that seeking power guided by prophetic manipulation can lead to one's downfall