The Three Witches (or Weird Sisters) are characters in Shakespeare's Macbeth (c.1603-1607). Their origin lies in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), a history of the British Isles. Other possible sources influencing their creation include British folklore, contemporary treatises on witchcraft, Scandinavian legends of the Norns, Greek and Roman myths concerning the Fates, and the Bard's own imagination. Portions of Thomas Middleton's The Witch were incorporated into Macbeth around 1618.

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  • The Three Witches (or Weird Sisters) are characters in Shakespeare's Macbeth (c.1603-1607). Their origin lies in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), a history of the British Isles. Other possible sources influencing their creation include British folklore, contemporary treatises on witchcraft, Scandinavian legends of the Norns, Greek and Roman myths concerning the Fates, and the Bard's own imagination. Portions of Thomas Middleton's The Witch were incorporated into Macbeth around 1618. Shakespeare's witches are prophetesses who hail then-General Macbeth early in the play with predictions of his rise as king. Upon committing regicide and being seated on the throne of Scotland, Macbeth hears the trio deliver ambiguous prophecies threatening his downfall. The witches' dark and contradictory natures, their "filthy" trappings and activities, as well as their intercourse with the supernatural all set an ominous tone for the play. In the 18th century, as Shakespearean as well as supernatural art began to become popular, the witches were portrayed in a variety of ways by artists such as Henry Fuseli. Since then, their role has proven somewhat difficult for many directors to portray, due to the tendency to make their parts exaggerated or overly sensational. Some have adapted the original Macbeth into different cultures, as in Orson Welles' performance making the witches voodoo priestesses, among others. Film adaptations have seen the witches transformed into characters familiar to the modern world, such as hippies on dope, or goth schoolgirls. Their influence reaches the literary realm as well in such works as The Third Witch and even the Harry Potter series.
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  • The Three Witches (or Weird Sisters) are characters in Shakespeare's Macbeth (c.1603-1607). Their origin lies in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), a history of the British Isles. Other possible sources influencing their creation include British folklore, contemporary treatises on witchcraft, Scandinavian legends of the Norns, Greek and Roman myths concerning the Fates, and the Bard's own imagination. Portions of Thomas Middleton's The Witch were incorporated into Macbeth around 1618.
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  • Three Witches
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