Macbeth quotes Act 1 scene 1

Question 1

What is the weather in the opening scene and how is it created and what effect doe it have?

Answer 1

Thunder, lightning - Squib
pathetic fallacy - links witches with the weather especially troublesome weather - witches create chaos and evil - convectional to Jacobeans’ idea of witches

Question 2

What is the first line of the play and what is this effect?

Answer 2

Witch 1: When shall we three meet again// in thunder lightning or in rain?
Trochaic tetrameter - atypical - subverts the normal iambic pentameter of Shakespeare - links witches to subversion - power of three - weather - pathetic fallacy - links to evil and weather - King James and Agnus Sampson

Question 3

What other weather is linked to witches in this scene and effects used?

Answer 3

witch 2:”set of sun”
sybilance empahasies evil of witches and links the night to supernatural and evil - setting the play up to have bad things occur at night - globe theatre = open would be day when scene set at night

Question 4

What are the two covectional acquaintances of witches stated?

Answer 4

“PADDOCK calls” “GRAYMALKIN”

Question 5

What does witch two say that is an oxymoron and seems to be impossible to occur at the same time?

Answer 5

When the battles lost or won.

Question 6

What is the last line and its effects?

Answer 6

Witches:”Fair is foul and foul is fair// hover through the fog and filthy air.”
oxymoronic - fricative alliteration emphasises the differnt language and spell like language of rhyme of witches - pathetic fallacy - believed weather caused decease and witches cursed