Symbolism of Witches in Macbeth

Given the turbulent history of England during the time, it seems to me that the witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth serve as perfect symbols for the troubled times he and his country-men lived in. Bloody conflicts, questionable successions and much more came to trouble England during the time, and these Witches themselves act, as another poster remarked, as the catalysts for the brutal treachery to come in Shakespeare’s tragedy; it’s symbolism if I’ve ever seen it. While it’s inexplicable magic in the world of Shakespeare’s imagination that plagues the country, it’s the harsh realpolitik of the times that led to events such as those that took place in Shakespeare’s play. Conspiracy, persecution, and hangings were all but daily routine for the English.