witches

• "Thunder and lightning"
A1S1

  • Shakespeare couples their introduction with pathetic fallacy - the atmosphere is volatile, ominous, and dangerous from the offset.

  • Foreshadows the violence that will ensue throughout the play - the disrupted and aggravated weather being nature's fury at this coming violence.
• "None of woman born shall harm Macbeth."
A4S1

  • Each of the prophecies are equivocal and ambiguous.

  • They appear to be giving Macbeth pertinent insight to his safety. Instead, the reality is that they are giving him am ephemeral sense of security and invincibility - they know his hubris obstructs him from seeing this

• "Fair is foul and foul is fair."
A1S1

  • The witches speak in paradoxes and oxymorons.

  • Their speech is conflicting and what they appear to say, does not correlate with the reality.

  • Their conflicting language is notable throughout the entirety of the play, reinforcing their deceitful and duplicitous intentions.

  • The fricative 'f' sound is menacing, and Shakespeare uses a confounding example of epanados (when a phrase at the start if a sentence is repeated / expanded upon at the end) to set up an oxymoron which conveys the ambiguity of their prophecies.
• "Instruments of darkness."
A1S3

  • This is suggesting their evil musicality, perhaps showing how their words are almost hypnotic for Macbeth.

  • This is compounded as they speak in trochaic tetrameter, which is distinct from the iambic pentameter that noble characters speak in throughout the play, and this gives their speech an eerie, songlike quality.

  • Metaphor reveals the witches are tools used by the devil to cause destruction. The motif of darkness = evil

  • Here, Banquo recognises witches’ manipulative intentions.
• "The pit of Acheron."
A3S5

  • Here, the witches appear synonymous with wickedness and hell.

  • Acheron was one of the rivers that ran through Hades' underworld, and as they are depicted as meeting there, it reinforces how the Witches are inextricably linked with hell.

  • Shows that they will lead Macbeth to hell to learn of his destiny - Acheron is the 'river of woe' which foreshadows that Macbeth's future will not be kind to him.
• "An armed head" "A bloody child" "A child with a tree crowned in his hand"
A4S1

  • The witches summon three apparitions which are manifestations of the threats Macbeth faces.

  • The children signify his superficial rule as he cannot produce an heir.

  • The first is emblematic of violence and battles, which foreshadows Macbeth's decapitation.

  • The second represents Macduff being born by C-section.

  • Third is emblematic of Birnham wood, where Macbeth lives, but also could suggest Scotland would flourish under Malcolm's rule.
• "A drum, a drum, Macbeth doth come."
A1S3

  • The repetition sets a celebratory tone - the witches seem excited for Macbeth's arrival to indoctrinate him with unchecked ambition

  • The specific naming highlights his nobility and status - witches are lulling him into a false sense of security.
• "Something wicked."
A4S1

  • This directly contrasts the first meeting between Macbeth and the witches

  • Words "something" reveals how Macbeth has completely lost his humanity, and is desensitised to almost everything - no turning back

  • Adjective "wicked" reveals how there is not even an ounce of goodness left in Macbeth; he is only associated with evil.
• "When shall we three meet again?"
A1S1

  • Shakespeare opens the play in media res (in the midst of the plot) as it seems the Witches' conversation is drawing to a close.

  •This immediately establishes a sense of mystery and secrecy.
• witches “thunder and lightening”
• witches “none of woman born shall harm macbeth”
• witches “fair is foul and foul is fair”
• witches “instruments of darkness”
• witches “the pit of acheron”
• witches “an armed head” “a bloody child “ “a child with a tree crowned in his hand”
• witches “ a drum a drum Macbeth doth come”
• witches “something wicked”
• witches “when shall we three meet again”