ENGLIT MACBETH three witches/supernatural quotes

Question 1

What is significant about very first line spoken?

Answer 1

“where shall we three meet again?”

• shows that whatever they did before start of play has been completed
• immediately gives us a sense of mystery of the purpose of the witches

Question 2

What do the witches say at the end of I.1?

Answer 2

“fair is foul and foul is fair, hover through the fog and the filthy air”

• witches are only characters that rhyme highlighting how mysterious they are
• the play is shown to take place in a world where the supernatural seems to hold some sort of power
• showing it first highlights how dark weather and supernatural will influence the play throughout

Question 3

How does the witches’ language differ throughout?

Answer 3

• witches speak in trochaic tetrameter
• this combined with rhyming provides a clear distinction from other characters in play
• trochaic tetrameter is opposite of iambic pentameter which is language used by nobles, shows witches as opposite to noble which led to Macbeth’s downfall as he listened to their prophecies

Question 4

What is significant about witches opening in I.3?

Answer 4

“killing swine”

• deaths of animals often blamed on witches
• close link between witches and animals considered ‘lower-level’ in nature is shown throughout play in different contexts

Question 5

What do the witches describe doing in opening of I.3?

Answer 5

“sailor’s wife had chestnuts…‘give me’ quoth I” “thou his bark cannot be lost, yet it shall be be tempest-tossed”

• sailor’s wife refusing to give chestnuts isn’t meant to be overly offensive to the audience
• it leads to demonstrating the power of the witches and control over weather
• the fact that the witches are unable to sink his ship suggests power is limited

Question 6

How do the witches foreshadow Macbeth’s end in I.3?

Answer 6

“sleep shall neither night nor day hang upon his penthouse lid”
-foreshadows how Macbeth will suffer sleepless nights due to his guilt
-sleep is a natural process to make someone strong, as Macbeth suffers from lack of sleep due to committing unnatural deeds, suggests nature is not letting him sleep as punishment, he is distanced from nature
“I’ll drain him dry as hay”
-making sailor “dry as hay” foreshadows draining Macbeth physically and mentally

Question 7

How do the witches treat Macbeth differently in III.5?

Answer 7

• talks as if he was one of their own, instead of a victim of the games they have played with him “to trade and traffic with Macbeth”
• could be because Macbeth has come so far in being evil that the witches now consider him to be one of their own

Question 8

Why is it significant the witches list animal parts for their spell in IV.1?

Answer 8

• echoes the feast that Macbeth has prepared, shows how they mimic each other
• they reflect the evil that has been committed so far in the play

Question 9

What do the witches introduce in I.1?

Answer 9

“fair is foul, foul is fair”

• nothing is as it seems
• crucial theme for the whole play

Question 10

What is significant about the witches being reintroduced with more thunder and lightning in I.3?

Answer 10

recurring motif hints at chaos, danger and the overturning of the natural order

Question 11

How is the story about the sailor and his ship significant in I.3?

Answer 11

• sailor is a metaphor for Macbeth who’s made sleepless by his guilt
• ship is a metaphor for Scotland, which is almost destroyed during his reign
• extended by Macbeth himself in IV.1, “through the yeasty waves, confound and swallow navigation up”

Question 12

Why is Banquo’s ghost important to Macbeth’s guilt?

Answer 12

• in III.2, said how he envied Duncan because he “sleeps well”
• Banquo’s ghost shows that he may not be able to rest even in death

Question 13

Why is Banquo’s ghost an important dramatic device?

Answer 13

• only Macbeth can see the ghost, so the audience is sure whether it’s real or a result of his guilty conscience, ghost appears shortly after mentioning his name, suggests it’s a guilt-inspired apparition
• ghost sits on Macbeth’s throne, visual and dramatic reminder to the audience that Banquo’s descendants will be kings

Question 14

In III.5, what is the reason behind the witches choosing to show Macbeth the apparitions?

Answer 14

“security is mortals’ chiefest enemy”

by making Macbeth bold and overconfident, they can ensure that they can continue Macbeth’s reign of terror and plunging the natural order into chaos

Question 15

How do the witches seem to be messing with Macbeth in IV.1?

Answer 15

“speak/demand/we’ll answer”

• pretend that they are servants of Macbeth and they are under his control, whereas reality is the opposite
• tricks Macbeth into asking for apparitions by claiming they can speak to their “masters”
• they know Macbeth’s biggest weakness is his own ambition so they play on his lust for power

Question 16

What is the significance of each apparition descending after they have been summoned?

Answer 16

• suggests they are returning to hell
• by saying they’re from hell, they have malicious intentions and intend to mislead Macbeth to result in his own downfall

Question 17

What does the child holding the branch represent in IV.1?

Answer 17

• could represent Birnam wood

- could also represent for Scotland to flourish under Malcolm’s rule

Question 18

Why are the witches’ prophecies self-fulfilling?

Answer 18

because Macbeth partly brought about his own downfall through his own actions

Question 19

How does Macbeth become overly reliant on the witches throughout the play?

Answer 19

• as the witches’ prophecies start to come true, Macbeth’s belief in them increases
• begins to rely more heavily on what they say and panics when their prophecies fail unexpectedly

Question 20

How do the witches seem to be the masters of fate?

Answer 20

• described as “weird sisters”

- “weird” comes from the Old English “wyrd” which means fate, this suggests that the witches are masters of fate

Question 21

How are the witches shown to be ambiguous in I.3?

Answer 21

“this supernatural soliciting, cannot be ill cannot be good”

Question 22

How are the witches shown to be strange in I.3?

Answer 22

“so withered and so wild”

Question 23

How do the witches seem to act throughout the play?

Answer 23

• can see into the future, all predictions come true

- seem to act out of malice, they don’t gain anything from their actions but instead look to only cause trouble

Question 24

How do the witches keep control of Macbeth?

Answer 24

by not telling him exactly what his future is

Question 25

How are the witches shown to be a supernatural force?

Answer 25

• “strange intelligence” (I.3) and ability to predict the future gives them power over humans
• however, when they discuss harming the ship’s captain, they say the ship “cannot be lost” (I.3) hinting their power is limited

Question 26

How are the witches associated with chaos?

Answer 26

• they try to impose an unnatural order on what’s good and natural, Macbeth says they “untie the winds” and make “castles topple” (IV.1)
• Witches are motivated by “destruction” rather than goodness, they represent the struggle between the natural and unnatural order

Question 27

How does Shakespeare present the witches throughout the play?

Answer 27

• completely evil, they are cruel, inhuman and don’t show any remorse
• in fact, they celebrate evil

Question 28

How do visions act as supernatural signs of guilt throughout the play?

Answer 28

II.1 - Macbeth sees a vision of a dagger as he’s about to kill Duncan
III.4 - Macbeth can see Banquo’s ghost, only he can see it which shows it’s a symbol of his guilty conscience
V.1 - LM is driven mad as she imagines her hands will “ne’er be clean” of Duncan’s blood, her guilt is so great that she kills herself

Question 29

How are the visions presented throughout the play?

Answer 29

they are ambiguous, they could be real or imaginary

Question 30

What effect does the vision of Banquo’s ghost have on Macbeth?

Answer 30

• fills them with fear
• Macbeth is “blanched with fear” when he sees Banquo’s ghost
• his language is agitated and nervous “Prithee, see there! Behold, look, lo!”, his fear has made him lose control of his speech
• calls his own reaction a “strange infirmity”, links to other signs of madness later in play

Question 31

What effect does the vision of fake blood have on LM?

Answer 31

• her language when she sleepwalks is desperate “O, o, o!” and shows that she’s disturbed by the vision of blood on her hands
• the Doctor says that her heart is “sorely charged”, sees that the vision is a result of her guilty conscience

Question 32

How does Shakespeare use the supernatural to keep the audience engaged?

Answer 32

• supernatural elements create tension
• they make things seem uncertain and evil
• uncomfortable because it’s not clear if the visions exist or if Macbeth is just going mad