The references to Christianity in Macbeth are few and superficial. Almost as an afterthought, Macbeth mentions that by killing the king he has forfeited his soul “to the common enemy of man.” Other supernatural influences abound, however, and their origin is always mysterious. Whereas Old King Hamlet’s ghost from Shakespeare’s Hamlet is very precise about how and why he has returned to earth, Banquo’s ghost does not even speak. The source of the spirits that Lady Macbeth summons to unsex her and fill her with cruelty is similarly vague. Even the witches seem to come out of nowhere, and the revelation in act 3 scene 5 that they are in the service of Hecate, Greek goddess of sorcery and necromancy, does not do much to explain their mysterious motives or origin.

Macbeth is a play in which God appears to be largely absent. It’s not clear that the spiritual “assistance” of the witches comes from Satan, but the supernatural in Macbeth is always untrustworthy—its origins suspicious and murky and its objectives equally obscure. Macduff and Malcolm eventually triumph by purely physical, explicable means, and the supernatural allies who assisted Macbeth and then deserted him seem to have had no motive beyond that of causing trouble and sowing chaos. Of interest to many readers of Macbeth is the question of free will, and to what extent Macbeth’s crimes are the result of his own ambition versus the witches’ manipulations. In this regard, the play is open to multiple interpretations. Macbeth can be characterized as a victim of supernatural intervention if it is assumed that seizing the throne would not have occurred to him without the witches’ prophecy. It can also be argued, however, that the witches’ prophecies aren’t evil in and of themselves. The witches merely state what will come to pass; they offer no insight or instruction on how this future might be achieved. Thus, Macbeth can also be held responsible for interpreting and acting on the prophecy in the way that he does.