The Witches

• Banquo: "Look not like th' inhabitants o' th' earth"


  Theme: Supernatural

  When: Act 1

  Analysis: Banquo perceives their overt evil and dehumanises them in his description. The witches' physiognomy (when appearances are believed to be reflective of your true character) exposes them as inhumane and evil. Banquo is portrayed as perceptive as it was believed he was an ancestor of James I, thus this is a form of indirect flattery.
• "Instruments of darkness"


  Theme: Supernatural

  When: Act 1

  Analysis: 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, this gives their speech and eerie songlike quality.
• "The pit of Acheron"


  Theme: Supernatural

  When: Act 3

  Analysis: The witches appear synonymous with wickedness and hell. Acheron was one of the rivers that ran through Hades (the underworld/ hell in Greek mythology), as they are depicted as meeting there it reinforces how the witches are inextricably linked with hell.
• "eye of newt" "fire burn, and cauldron bubble" "hell-broth, boil and bubble"


  Theme: Supernatural

  When: Act 4

  Analysis: Witches amplify the theme of deception and equivocation within this act as they speak in proverbial (common) Supernatural phrases - they conform to the archetype of witches that the audience would fear.
• "fair is foul and foul is fair"


  Theme: Appearance Vs Reality

  When: Act 1

  Analysis: They speak in paradoxes and oxymorons. This is seen when they chant this paradoxical phrase - 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.
• Macbeth: "So foul and fair a day I have not seen"


  Theme: Appearance Vs Reality

  When: Act 1

  Analysis: They are successful in their manipulation of Macbeth through their duplicitousness, highlighted through him echoing the paradoxical language of the witches. The oxymoron of 'foul' and 'fair' directly mirrors the Witches ominous nursery rhyme like chant - Macbeth is instantly introduced as malleable and susceptible to their malevolent schemes.
• [an isolated place, Thunder]


  Theme: Appearance Vs Reality

  When: Act 4

  Analysis: 'isolated' creates an image of restriction, illuminating how they want to restrict Macbeth mentally and physically, so it is easier for them to employ their deception. This juxtaposes act 1 beginning with '[Thunder and lightning]'. The lack of light alludes to how they will continue to keep Macbeth both in the physical and metaphorical dark about their intentions. Lack of light could also allude to the murders of the many characters through Macbeth's tyranny, as their lights (lifes) are gone from their bodies.
• "an armed head", "a blood child" "a child crowned with a tree in his hand"


  Theme: Appearance Vs Reality

  When: Act 4

  Analysis: 3 apparitions which are manifestations of the threats Macbeth faces. The first is emblematic of the violence of battle and foreshadows Macbeth's decapitation. The second suggests Macduff who was born by Caesarean Section. The third emblematic of Birnam wood, where Macbeth lives /natural imagery could suggest that Scotland would flourish under Macduff's rule. The Witches' equivocate these to Macbeth though, who believes he is completely safe from harm and is immortal.
• "none of woman born shall harm Macbeth"


  Theme: Appearance Vs Reality

  When: Act 4

  Analysis: Each of the prophecies are equivocal and ambiguous. They appear to be giving Macbeth pertinent insight to his safety. Instead, the reality is they are giving Macbeth an ephemeral (temporary) sense of security and invincibility - they know his hubris obstructs him from seeing this.
• "[Thunder and lightning]"


  Theme: Violence

  When: Act 1

  Analysis: Shakespeare couples their introduction with pathetic fallacy - the atmosphere is volatile, ominous, and dangerous from the offset. This could foreshadow the violence that will ensue throughout the play - the disrupted and aggravated weather being nature's fury at this coming violence.
• "beards" or the Witches' and Lady Macbeth's influence on Macbeth to show how he is being constantly manipulated by women throughout the play


  Theme: Gender

  When: Act 1

  Analysis: Throughout the text, masculinity is synonymous with power, thus this description imbues them with a threatening dominance. They therefore appear androgynous, and alike to Lady Macbeth, express Gender non-conformity.