The Supernatural

Question 1

‘untie the winds’

Macbeth-A4S1

Answer 1

commenting on witches
shows their power over nature
Macbeth as a play taps into fears that the audience would already have.
Compare the reactions here old/modern audience

Question 2

‘black, and midnight hags’

Macbeth-A4S1

Answer 2

commenting on witches
knows now that witches are linked to hell.
dark imagery, linking to evil (choose noun ‘black’)

Question 3

‘Infected be the…trust them’

Macbeth-A4S1

Answer 3

admitting here that he has been cursed by the witches

adjective ‘infected’, air like poison

Question 4

‘Fair is foul and foul is fair’

Witches-A1S1

Answer 4

repeated by Macbeth first time we meet him A1S3  ('foul and fair'- won battle) echoing witches
appearance vs reality
fricative-harsh and aggression
things are not what they seem
paradox-two conflicting ideas

Question 5

‘like th’inhabitants o’th’earth,/And yet are on’t’

Banquo-A1S3

Answer 5

soon as he sees witches
a bit confused
commenting on witches

Question 6

‘prophetic greeting’

A1S3-Macbeth

Answer 6

acknowledges that witches can tell future
he understands that they can tell the future, linking to the power that the witches have
shows that Macbeth is predicting that it is true, but does not actually know that what the witches are saying is right. This indicates that even though Macbeth sees the power that the supernatural has, he is still willing to talk to them as an equal.

Question 7

‘Into the air…breath into the wind’

Macbeth-A1S3

Answer 7

encompassing natural elements

expressing how easily they seemed to vanish- comparing their vanishing to a ‘breath into the wind’

Question 8

‘can the devil speak true’

Banquo-A1S3

Answer 8

already connecting them to evil

witches-associating with ‘devil’

Question 9

‘Cannot be ill, cannot be good’

Macbeth-A1S3

Answer 9

evil

the temptation from the supernatural cannot be bad, but it cannot be good either.