Macbeth destroyed his own masculinity by doing what his wife and the witches told him, in great contrast to what he believed his actions meant. The witches even inform Macbeth that: “The power of man, for none born of woman / Shall harm Macbeth” (Shakespeare 4.1.96-97). This was the witches' method of speaking equivocally to Macbeth, which suggests that only a man even more masculine than Macbeth will kill him. We are later informed that Macduff was “torn prematurely from his mother's womb” (Shakespeare 5.10.15-16), meaning that Macduff had been cut off from his mother. Since Macduff was born unconventionally into this world, he fulfilled the witches' prophecy, yet he came from his mother's womb. Macbeth believed he was untainted by femininity, which he saw as a vulnerability in many other men. The witches used their masterful misunderstandings to exploit the flaws of Macbeth, who believed in this fantasy of absolute