Now king, and increasingly insecure, Macbeth returns to the witches in search of reassurance. They deliver two prophecies that seem like absolute life insurance, and which prove, in the end, to be their death sentence.
"No man is born of woman"
The first guarantee: no man born of woman can harm you. Macbeth hears this as invincibility, after all, every man is born of a woman. He starts acting without restraint, certain that no one can touch him. But in the final duel Macduff reveals the detail that undoes everything: he was "taken from the womb of his dead mother", a cesarean section. In the strict sense of the time, he was not born of a woman. It is he, the literal exception, who kills Macbeth.
Birnam Forest
The second: Macbeth will only be defeated when Birnam Forest marches against Dunsinane Castle. Forests don't walk, and this seems to seal their safety. Until Malcolm's soldiers cut branches from Birnam Forest to camouflage themselves in their advance. From the top of the wall, the forest actually seems to march. The impossible image is fulfilled to the letter.
Witches don't lie. They tell truths designed to deceive.
The key: the misconception
What unites the two prophecies is the technique of equivocation: telling the truth in a way that will be misunderstood. Every word of the witches is literally true; the mistake lies in the reassuring interpretation that Macbeth chooses. Banquo had warned us right at the beginning: the forces of darkness tell us small truths to betray us in essence. Macbeth listened to the advice and ignored it.
Why this is genius
Because the trap is not in destiny, it is in Macbeth's reading of it. He listens to what he wants to hear. Prophecies work like all easy comforts: they promise security and exact a price exactly where the person lets their guard down. Life insurance and the death sentence were, all along, written in the same sentence.
Complete class
Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, on video
The prophecies, the mistake and the final fall, in the complete analysis of the play on the channel Nous.
Watch the class on YouTubeFrequently asked questions
What does “no man born of woman shall hurt him” mean?
It seems to make Macbeth invincible, since everyone is born of woman. But Macduff reveals in the final duel that he was taken from his dead mother's womb by cesarean section. In the strict sense of the time, he was not born of a woman, and he is the one who kills Macbeth.
What does Birnam Forest marching on the castle mean?
The witches say that Macbeth will only fall when Birnam Forest marches against Dunsinane. Forests don't walk, so he feels safe. But Malcolm's soldiers cut branches to camouflage themselves, and the forest actually seems to advance. The prophecy is fulfilled to the letter.
Why do prophecies deceive Macbeth?
Because witches use equivocation: they tell truths designed to deceive. Each prophecy is literally true, but Macbeth understands it in a reassuring sense. The words that seemed like life insurance were, in fact, his death sentence.
Continue: Macbeth and the Gunpowder Plot · The Anatomy of Fear in Macbeth · Cronos and Kairos: the two times of the Greeks