Witches and Evil in Macbeth No discussion of evil in Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, would be satisfactory without considering its most famous symbols of evil: the coven of witches and whose interactions with Macbeth play such a vital role in his reflection on his own life. Banquo and Macbeth recognize them as something supernatural, part of the landscape but not its fully human inhabitants. They have malevolent intentions and prophetic powers. Yet they are not active agents, in the sense that they do nothing but talk and offer visions and potions. Witches have no power of compulsion. If we want to explore the meaning of these witches, we must do so by treating them as vital poetic symbols in the play, essential manifestations of the moral atmosphere of Macbeth's world. The most obvious interpretation of witches is to see them as manifestations of evil in the world. They exist to tempt and torment people, to challenge their faith in themselves and in society. They work on Macbeth out of misunderstanding, that is, out of ambiguous promises of a future state. These promises come true, but not in the way the victim originally believed. The witches thus appeal to Macbeth and Banquo's desire to control their future, to direct it towards desirable ends. They do not have the power to compel belief, but they can obviously forcefully appeal to an already existing inclination to impose one's will on events to shape the future to satisfy one's deepest desires. Banquo's importance in the play comes, in large part, from his diverse response. to these witches. Like Macbeth, he is sorely tempted, but does not let his desires overcome his moral caution: "But strange it is, and often, to bring us to our own harm, the instruments of darkness tell us the truth, overcome us with honest trifles to betray us." deeper consequence" (1.3.120-124). Macbeth cannot act on this knowledge because his desires (kept alive by his active imagination and his wife's urging) constantly invade his moral sensibilities. Thus, he seizes I fly the news that he has just been made Thane of Cawdor, using that information to tell him what he wants to believe most, that the witches are telling the truth: "This supernatural urge cannot be sick, it cannot be Good. If sick, because it gave me serious success?"