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Macbeth: Act 1, Scene 1 – analysis
The Three Witches gather in a storm and plan to intercept Macbeth after the battle.
Scene Profile – At a Glance
Location: A desert place (a heath).
Characters: First Witch, Second Witch, Third Witch.
Key Event: The Witches decide to meet Macbeth after the fighting concludes.
The Atmosphere: Ominous, stormy, supernatural, and chaotic.
Key Quote: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair."
Significance: Establishes the supernatural atmosphere and the core theme of moral inversion before the protagonist is even introduced.
Scene Summary
Sentries on the Elsinore battlements discuss a ghost that looks like the dead King Hamlet. Horatio, a scholar and friend to the prince, arrives to verify the tale. The Ghost appears twice in armour but will not speak, vanishing at the cock’s crow. The watchmen connect the apparition with Denmark’s military preparations and the threat from Fortinbras of Norway. They resolve to tell Prince Hamlet at once.
Context
King James I and Witchcraft: King James I (the patron of Shakespeare's playing company) was famously obsessed with witchcraft, having even written a treatise called Daemonologie. Opening the play with witches was a direct nod to the King's interests and fears. Witches were widely believed to be real agents of the Devil, capable of controlling the weather and causing chaos.
The Weird Sisters: The term "weird" comes from the Old English word wyrd, meaning fate or destiny. This links the Witches not just to common Elizabethan sorcery, but to the mythological Fates who control human destiny.
Character Focus
The Witches: The Instigators
The Witches are not human; they are forces of disruption. In this opening scene, they do not force Macbeth to do anything, but they create the atmospheric and psychological conditions (the "fog and filthy air") that will allow his dark ambition to take root. They represent the presence of absolute, corrupting evil in the world of the play.
Language & Technique
Trochaic Tetrameter: Unlike the noble characters in Shakespeare's plays who speak in iambic pentameter (di-DUM di-DUM), the Witches speak in trochaic tetrameter (DUM-di DUM-di). This gives their speech a chanting, unnatural, spell-like rhythm that immediately marks them as otherworldly and dangerous.
Paradox / Chiasmus: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair." This paradox is the thematic heart of the entire play. It implies an inverted world where appearances are deceiving; what seems good is evil, and what seems evil is good.
Pathetic Fallacy: The scene opens with "Thunder and lightning." The turbulent weather reflects the unnatural and chaotic events that are about to unfold in the human world of Scotland. Nature itself is disturbed by the Witches' presence.
Key Quotes
Original:
When the hurlyburly's done,
When the battle's lost and won. (Second Witch)
Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse):
When the raucous battle’s done,
When someone’s lost, and someone’s won.
Analysis: The word "hurlyburly" refers to the chaos and tumult of the ongoing war. The paradox "lost and won" suggests that every victory involves a defeat; it foreshadows that Macbeth’s military victories will ultimately lead to his spiritual and physical destruction.
Original:
Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air. (The Witches)
Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse):
What’s fair is foul; what’s foul is fair;
Let’s fly through foggy, filthy air.
Analysis: This choral chant establishes the play's central theme of moral ambiguity and deception. The "fog and filthy air" represents the moral blindness that will soon descend upon Scotland, obscuring the truth and allowing evil acts to be hidden.
Study Prompts (with suggested answers)
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Benchmark Points:
Thunder and lightning.
Pathetic fallacy.
Supernatural control over nature.
Suggested Answer: The "thunder and lightning" immediately establish a dark, chaotic, and terrifying atmosphere. This pathetic fallacy mirrors the political and moral upheaval that will soon grip Scotland. It also signals to an Elizabethan audience that supernatural, malevolent forces are at work, as witches were believed to control the weather.
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Benchmark Points:
Moral inversion.
Deceptive appearances.
The guiding theme of the play.
Suggested Answer: This paradox means that traditional values have been flipped upside down. What is traditionally good and beautiful ("fair") is actually evil and ugly ("foul"), and vice versa. It warns the audience that appearances in this play cannot be trusted, foreshadowing the treachery of characters who look like "innocent flowers" but are actually "serpents."
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Benchmark Points:
Setting the tone.
Establishing the supernatural context.
Creating anticipation for the protagonist.
Suggested Answer: By opening with the Witches rather than the title character, Shakespeare plunges the audience straight into a world of evil and uncertainty. It frames Macbeth’s subsequent actions within a cosmic struggle between good and evil, making the audience question whether his downfall is a result of his own free will or supernatural manipulation.
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Benchmark Points:
Trochaic tetrameter.
Chanting/spell-like quality.
Contrast with noble characters.
Suggested Answer: The Witches speak in trochaic tetrameter (falling rhythm), which sounds like a nursery rhyme or a magical incantation. This starkly contrasts with the iambic pentameter (rising rhythm) used by the human nobles. This linguistic difference isolates the Witches, making them sound unnatural, relentless, and distinctively non-human.
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Benchmark Points:
Witches' familiars.
Demonic spirits.
Animal forms (cat and toad).
Suggested Answer: Graymalkin (a grey cat) and Paddock (a toad) are the Witches' familiars. In Elizabethan witchcraft lore, familiars were minor demons or evil spirits given to witches by the Devil to assist them in their dark magic, usually taking the form of animals. Their inclusion adds gritty, culturally recognisable details of witchcraft to the scene.