Witches

• Witches - (A1S4) - LM says "your face my thane is like a book"

  • Witches capitalise on the obvious intentions and ambitions of Macbeth, as demonstrated through this simile. The witches are a catalyst to Macbeth's inevitable fulfilment of his ambition for power: his demise
• Witches - "imperfect speakers"

  • They speak in riddles (equivocation) that are vague and ambiguous as they are a source of temptation - Macbeth chooses to ignore this as his greed for power overcomes him.
  • Therefore, it could be argued that they are not controlling fate, rather they are allowing Macbeth to gain validation of the desires he already has
  • Macbeth interprets their speech to suit his desires as an excuse for his own thoughts and therefore it could be argued that Macbeth twists their prophecies in order to further his own agenda of power
• Witches - "lost and won" and "lesser than Macbeth and greater"

  • Shakespeare establishes the Witches as a source of chaos and disorder
  • Their interference causes the reversal of order
  • Things that shouldnt be able to coexist begin to occur as the complex riddles of the Witches come to fruition
  • Paradoxical phrases are often used by Shakespeare, when the Witches are speaking to demonstrate the OSTENSIBLY (seemingly true but not necessarily true) nature of their positive prophecies made to Macbeth
• Witches - "valour of my tongue"

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

  • Oxymoronic language used by Shakespeare reflects Macbeth's confusion in the audience, who would be similarly ambivalent (having contradictory ideas) towards the actual mean of the prophecies, as they cannot understand them
  • This cultivates INTRIGUE and builds TENSION
  • Things that are accepted as foul seem fair to Macbeth, like REGICIDE
  • Macbeth who was fair becomes foul, himself
• Witches -

  "look not like the inhabitants of the earth

  and yet are on it"

  • juxtaposing comment further works to reassure the confusing and illogical nature of the witches, and the theme of the Supernatural in general. 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 bears forbid me to interpret / that you are so" - work beyond the natural laws of science