The Witches

Question 1

“Fair is foul and foul is fair”
Act 1

Answer 1

What appears good can actually be bad, and what seems bad can sometimes be good. This idea of confusion between good and evil is central to the play, where characters, like Macbeth, are often tricked by appearances. The witches’ words set the tone for the whole story, showing that nothing is clear-cut, and moral boundaries are blurred

This idea shows how Macbeth’s world becomes confusing, and how he begins to struggle with knowing what is right and wrong. As the story goes on, he starts to make bad choices, which makes everything feel more uncertain.

Question 2

Instruments of darkness
Act 1

Answer 2

• This is suggesting their evil masculinity perhaps how their words are almost hypnotic for Macbeth. This is compounded as they speak in trochaic tetrameter, which is distinct from the iambic pentameter that noble characters speak throughout the play, this gives their speech an eerie somglique quality

Question 3

“An armed head, a blood child a child crowned with a tree in his hand”

Answer 3

• The witches summon three apparitions which are manifestations of the threats Macbeth faces
  -The first being emblematic of the violence of the battle and foreshadows Macbeth’s decapitation. The second representing Macduff who was born by a C section and the third emblematic of Brian wood, where Macbeth lives or the natural imagery could suggest that Scotland would flourish under Malcom’s rule

Question 4

None of woman born shall harm Macbeth

Answer 4

• Each of the prophecies are equivocal and ambiguous. They appear to be giving Macbeth pertinent insight to his safety. Instead the reality is that they are giving Macbeth an ephemeral sense of security and invincibility - they know his hubris obstructs him from seeing this