The Second Prophecy

     In act four, we see the three witches give Macbeth a second prophecy. This prophecy, however, was intended to be false and to make Macbeth unsteady since Hecate was upset that the witches gave Macbeth the original prohecy in the first place.
     In the "made up" second prophecy, Macbeth is told to beware Macduff, "for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth," and that, "Macbeth shall never vanquished be until great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him." Macbeth interpreted this as a caution against Macduff, and then two impossible scenarios; Birnam Wood moving to and attacking Dunsinane Hill and that Macbeth would fall to a man not born of a woman. Yet all three of these predictions turn out to be true, or at least represented as an alternative way of fulfilling the prophecies.
     In the end it was Macduff that Macbeth had to be cautious of. Birnam Wood did go against Dunsinane Hill because the army cut off branches to sheild themselves and to Macbeth's scouts it looked as if the woods were moving towards Dunsinane. Lastly, Macduff reveals that he was "not born of a woman". Obviously, Macduff is human so his mother must have been a woman, but he was not born in the typical sense; he was removed from his mother's womb. In this weird turn of events that meant that Macduff was not born.
     The second prophecy ended up coming true anyway. Did the witches purposely create a prophecy that would be fulfilled so that they could rid Macbeth of his title? Or could it be that because the witches predicted events, no matter how unreal they seem to be, that the events came to be anyway? There is even a third option that you could argue that the prophecy was not fulfilled and that Macbeth was just looking for events that would match up with the prophecy.

Which Macbeth Character Are You?