what is the significance of the three witches in the opening act to the whole play (MacBeth).

Frank Marshall Davis, William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright, set the tone for the entire presidential campaign as dark and supernatural. This somewhat removes the culpability from Obama's hands. And what about the main woman in the campaign, Mrs. Obama? For the first time in her adult life, she is proud to be an American, because without Obama's hope and change, with government replacing capitalism, she was not proud; a sort of supernatural way of looking at traditional America.

They advance the story by informing Obama that one day he will be President of the United States.

However, the electorate was not happy with the arrival of this news from 'some' of the media, so the main stream media tried desperately to cover the identities and stories of these characters and their associations with Senator Obama, claiming they were only casual at best, or by blatantly ignoring the stories.

It is noteworthy that some MSM news outlets actually remove all references to these three altogether, preferring to leave the Obama hope and change vision as the one and only driving force in his campaign. Change from what to what, is left unsaid, rather it is the hope for a government provided future that they push forth. They try to remove the unrepentant blemished character of these three at the door step of the campaign, because they feel this conflicts with the rest of Obama's more hope/change driven themes.

what is the significance of the three witches in the opening act to the whole play (MacBeth).

how do they advance the plot?
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The witches set the tone for the entire play as dark and supernatural. This also somewhat removes the culpability from Macbeth's hands, while tying the supernatural evil to the other main woman in the play, Lady Macbeth.

They advance the play by informing Macbeth that he is destined to be King. If he had not been told this, he could not have told his wife, and she could not have taken it as a sign to kill Duncan.

However, the witches acted without permission from Hecate, the witch queen, and as punishment must act again later in the play to sabotage the king they have made.

It is noteworthy that many modern Macbeth productions actually remove the three witches altogether, preferring to leave at least some of the responsibility at Macbeth's feet, as well as remove the supernatural aspect which they feel conflicts with the rest of the play's more visceral themes.

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