all come against him(Shakespeare IV.i.103-107). These two apparitions do not scare Macbeth. For who is not woman-born, or how cana forest of trees walk? He even states this out loud: That will never be. Who can impress the forest, bid the treeunfix his earthbound root? Sweet bodements, good! Rebellious dead, rise never till the wood of Birnam rise, andour high-placed Macbeth shall live till the lease of nature, pay his breath to time and mortal custom (ShakespeareIV.i.108-114). You can tell from this quote, that Macbeth is not scared. He is almost mocking the witches. Howcan they tell him, that forests will walk and that people are not born through their mothers? Watson believes that the prophesies sent him into self-destruction, by making him think he wasself-preserving himself (Watson 20). He also believes that the prophecy that confronted him was an Oedipalprophecy- a warning about filial rebellion and the castration that avenges it (Watson 20). His statement explainseverything: prophecy that confronts Macbeth is an Oedipal prophecy Such a riddle tempts man toward the fatalviolation it describes, sends him in pursuit of self-destruction through a desperate and deluded attempt atself-preservation (Watson 20). Another author, Wills Gary, believes that Hecate is leading Macbeth into a falsesense of security, which will later be his worst enemy (Wills 47). T.W. thinks that the prophecy that Macbeth will not be killed by anyone of woman born and until theforest walk make Macbeth feel invincible which is a good thing in his opinion since it makes a shocking ending(T.W. 290). His statement states this exactly: The prophecy of the witches, That none of woman born should beable to hurt Macbeth, and that he need fear nothing till Birnam wood should come to Dunsinane, have whenfulfilled in a sense different from what the words seemed to import, an excellent effect in reading the fall of thebloody tyrant dreadful and shocking (T.W. 290). As you ...
