The Witches

• What are some words to describe the witches?

  Oxymoronic, Duplicitous, Deceitful, Malevolent, Ani-Trinity, Ominous
• "thunder and lightning"


  Pathetic fallacy - enrobed in "thunder and lightning" the atmosphere is volatile and ominous which sets the scene for a future terrible ordeal.
• "where shall we three meet again?"

  The play initiates with In-Media Res. This already establishes a sense of mystery and secrecy.
• "Beards"


  masculinity throughout the play is synonymous with pride thus this description embodies them with a threatening dominance
• How does Banquo respond to the witches?

  Banquo perceives their overt evil and dehumanizes them in his brutal description "look not like th'inhabitants o'th'earth"
• "look not like th'inhabitants o'th'earth"


  Their visuals are indicative of their menacing and dangerous nature
• What's Banquo critical of?

  Banquo is continuously critical of the witches as he refers to them as "instruments of darkness" implying their evil musicality and capability to make others feel uneasy.
• How do the witches speak throughout the play?

  1) Rhyming Couplets

  2) Trochaic Tetrameter

  3) Paradoxes & Oxymorons
• Rhyming Couplets


  makes it sinister, almost like a dark nursery rhyme or spell. It could also hallucinate people, in this case Macbeth was lured into their hallucination.
• Trochaic Tetrameter


  eerie song like quality
• Paradoxes and Oxymorons


  "fair is foul and foul is fair" which foreshadows the overreaching theme of appearance vs reality
• How do the witches have influence over Macbeth?


  Macbeth is instantly introduced as malleable and susceptible to their malevolent schemes - "so foul and fair a day I have not seen"
• "Not seen"


  The phrase implies blindness or a loss of vision. This could parallel how Macbeth is blinded by their vague prophecies leading him to lose sight of reality.
• The witches appear synonymous with wickedness and hell..


  to compound how the interference with the supernatural is inherently evil.
• An arguable point for the previous point is that...

  since Banquo has been interfered with supernatural, it doesn't make sense that he doesn't blindly inherit the malicious traits. So this could bring in the point that Macbeth has been involved with several witches e.g. Lady Macbeth.
• "The pit of Acheron"


  The witches are inextricably linked with hell and thrive in this depraved environment. They're the anti trinity against God.
• Act 4


  - Amplifies theme of deception

  - Speak in proverbial supernatural phrases

  
  

  This conforms to the archetype of witches that the audience would fear. When Macbeth was performed people believed the supernatural acting caused a curse on the real life world (people getting ill).
• "an armed head"


  emblematic of the violence of battle and foreshadows Macbeth's vicious decapitation
• "a bloody child"


  represents Macduff who was born by a Caesarean section
• How does Shakespeare present Macbeth's delusions?

  Macbeth's excessive pride is explicit as he enters. This hubris is obstructing him from seeing the reality of his prophecies
• "tell me"


  He speaks with imperative phrases such as "tell me" he is driven by greed and hunger for power.
• "Eternal curse"


  believes he can overrule the ones that gave him power or the influence to obtain that malicious power.