A1S1

• Shakespeare's structural decision to start the play with the witches suggests they are important characters
• Immediate sense of mystery and confusion at the end of their meeting
• The witches open the play's dialogue with the enigmatic "When shall we three meet again?"
• Shakespeare prompts curiosity about the witches' role in the play and sets the scene for what is to come in Macbeth
• Major theme of the play is the difference between appearances versus reality
• The audience is immediately on guard in the ambiguous opening, unsure of what is happening
• The lack of clarity in the introduction to the witches foreshadows a major question that hangs over the entire play
• Dr. Emma Smith questions if the witches have the power of prophecy or direction in the play's opening scene
• The witches' first appearance symbolizes mystery and confusion, reflecting their unclear role in Macbeth's future actions
• The motif of appearances versus reality is introduced by the witches' line "Fair is foul and foul is fair"
• The inclusion of witches in the play would have been a huge draw to the Jacobean audience
• Practicing witchcraft was a crime punishable by death in Jacobean times
• King James, who was interested in witchcraft, was an important source of revenue for theaters
• Shakespeare used rhyming couplets for the witches' dialogue in Act 1, Scene 1, giving it a spell-like rhythm
• The witches' dialogue in trochaic tetrameter and rhyming couplets creates a clear divide between them and the other characters in the play
• Shakespeare's structural decision to start the play with the witches suggests that they are important characters
• Immediate sense of mystery and confusion at the end of their meeting
• The witches open the play's dialogue with the enigmatic "When shall we three meet again?"
• Shakespeare prompts curiosity about the role of The Witches in the play and sets the scene for what is to come in Macbeth
• Macbeth is a murky world filled with confusion, where a major theme is the difference between appearances versus reality
• The audience is immediately on guard in the ambiguous opening, unsure of what is happening
• The lack of clarity in the introduction to the witches foreshadows a major question that hangs over the entire play: who persuades Macbeth to kill King Duncan?
• The Witches seem to know what is happening in the opening scene, raising questions about their power of prophecy or direction
• The Witch's first appearance symbolizes mystery and confusion, reflecting their unclear role in Macbeth's future actions
• The motif of appearances versus reality is introduced by the witches' line "Fair is foul and foul is fair"
• The inclusion of witches in the play would have been a huge draw to the Jacobean audience
• Practicing witchcraft was a crime punishable by death in Jacobean times, and King James was particularly interested in the subject
• King James wrote a book on demonology and was estimated to have been responsible for the burning of alleged witches
• Shakespeare used the witches in Macbeth to grab the interest of the contemporary audience and the king, who was an important source of revenue
• The play is set in Scotland, where King James was from, to impress him as a patron of Shakespeare's acting troupe
• The witches speak in rhyming couplets in scene one, which signifies their importance and sets them apart from other characters
• The language used by Shakespeare in the play signifies the rank or importance of the characters speaking
• The witches' dialogue in trochaic tetrameter and rhyming couplets gives it the rhythm of a spell or chant, emphasizing their supernatural nature
• The use of trochaic tetrameter and rhyming couplets by the witches creates a clear divide between them and the other characters in the play