Witches

• "your face my thane is like a book".

  • The Witches capitalise on the obvious intentions and ambitions of Macbeth, as demonstrated through this simile. The Witches can be argued to simply be a catalyst to Macbeth's inevitable fulfillment of his ambition for power: his demise.
• The Witches are described as: "imperfect speakers"

  • However, Macbeth listens to them and their prophecies anyway because he wants what they say to be true.
  • They speak in riddles that are meant to be misunderstood and Macbeth chooses to ignore this as his greed for power overcomes him.
• "valour of my tongue".

  • Their use of language to tempt and control bears connotations of satanic imagery and the snake in the Garden of Eden.
  • They are female and so this is the only way women can have power
  • The serpent used untrustworthy language to tempt Eve, in the Garden of Eden, through twisting what God had said and claiming he didn't want them to become like him; the fruit wasn't really forbidden.
• "fair and foul"

  • The oxymoronic language used by Shakespeare reflects Macbeth's confusion in the audience, who would be similarly ambivalent towards the actual meaning of the prophecies, as they too cannot understand the oxymorons.
  • This works to cultivate intrigue and build tension.
  • Things that are accepted as foul seem fair to Macbeth, like regicide (killing the King).
  • Macbeth who was fair becomes foul, himself.
• "look not like the inhabitants of the earth, / And yet are on it"

  This juxtaposing comment further works to reassure the confusing and illogical nature of the Witches, This suggests

  their introduction to the characters, especially Banquo and Macbeth, will be chaotic.

  • Links to Banquo's later comment: "you should be women, / And yet your beards forbid me to interpret / That you are so." - The Witches clearly work beyond the natural laws of physics and biology.