Although there are a number of theories to why Shakespeare incorporated the use of the 3 witches both at the beginning and throughout the tale of Macbeth, one of the reasons Prof. McRae suggested is the influence of religion. At that point in History within England, the standard religion was Protestantism. This is due to the fact that years before, King Henry VIII had broken off with the church of Rome, paving a new way to an altered form of Christianity. This led on to cause Henry’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth, to be a protestant too, along with the state. She was the ruling monarch for a significant period of time in Shakespeare’s career, including amid the writing of his play – Macbeth. All of this is of importance because as McRae pointed out, “the belief system of this time also accommodated magic, witchcraft”. Whether Shakespeare wrote of black magic or white magic (in the case of Macbeth black), the concepts of witchcraft, fairies, spirits, and magic were central themes that people were fascinated by, but also (to an extent) believed in. It has often been observed across many of Shakespeare’s texts that his content was frequently influenced by external factors at the time. In particular, he was known to write things that would give leaders a good light or to impress/interest them. As he was well known at the time and was associated with monarchs, it only makes sense that he would drop themes that lay within their belief system, along with the rest of society. This way, it is plausible that the play would be more successful in terms of resonating with his audience/readers, more or less in line with the monarch’s values and beliefs.