For Shakespeare's Macbeth, conflict
what drives the plot forward. We see Shakespeare present yet another conflict in this
play.
In Act III, scene v, the conflict presented is
between Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, and the three witches, who basically "work"
for her.
Hecate is very unhappy with the Weird Sisters.
Herein lies the conflict: Hecate is mad with the witches for being involved with
Macbeth. There are several reasons for her displeasure. First, Hecate was never called
on to be a part of the plan against Macbeth, or to show how talented she is in the use
of her black arts.
Second, they have given Macbeth
information, but it has led only to his increased sense of self-importance, with no
sense of respect or appreciation shown to the witches.
In
order to fix the problem, the witches will meet the following day, when Macbeth comes
for further help. At this point, they will provide him will illusions—predictions based
upon magical visions. The visions and the predictions that go with each give Macbeth
inaccurate, misleading insights. In doing so the witches will not be helping him, but
will lure him to his destruction because he will believe he is
invincible.
Hecate reminds the witches that man's biggest
enemy (and certainly Macbeth's big mistake) is a false sense of
security.
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