"No good being a witch unless you let people know" : The importance of performance in Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters

Abstract: In this analysis of Terry Pratchett’s Wyrd Sisters, I argue that performance of the witch is the most important part of witchcraft on Discworld, and, indeed, what drives the story. To underpin this position, I understand Wyrd Sisters as a work of metafiction and parody, examine witch tropes and stories on Discworld and draw parallels to the weird sisters of Shakespeare's Macbeth. Using Pratchett's own theory of narrative causality and Judith Butler's theory of performativity, I show that there is no witch essence on Discworld, but that the witches' performances are imitations of imitations. I also show how the witches' performances of themselves and theatre performance interact and amplify each other, as theatre is a key theme in the novel.