How does the inclusion of witches in Macbeth heighten the dramatic impact of the play?
… against witches. In the 1500s the number of witches being discovered rose and by Shakespeare’s time they were feared throughout Britain. As well as these fears, people in the 17th century had never seen witches used in a play before. The audience believed that they were seeing actual witches and this must have been very frightening for them. It was a big risk for Shakespeare. The play was made more dramatic by the surprise of seeing witches. In contrast, today’s beliefs about witches are very different. People these days believe less in witches, so they take them less seriously. This is because of advances in scientific research. People have advanced knowledge nowadays. Also people now days are more used to seeing witches on television etc, and not just bad witches, there are good witches e.g. Sabrina the teenage witch, Harry Potter. These are of course fictional characters so people are …
