Witches

Question 1

‘Double, double toil and trouble
Fire burn and cauldron bubble’ (A4 S1)

Answer 1

• ‘Double’ - two faced, manipulative, links to theme of appearance vs reality
• ‘Toil’ - meaning a trap, visual image of Macbeth being trapped in the situation the witches have put him in
• ‘Fire burn’ - hellish imagery, metaphor for Macbeth’s dark desires?
• ‘Bubble’ - meaning deceptive sham, their evil is more imaginary than real, only those vulnerable to temptation would fall for
• Plosives, highlight their unnaturalness
• Trochaic tetrameter, all nobles speak in iambic pentameter, stilted and contrived feeling

Question 2

‘Fair is foul and Foul is fair’ (A1 S1)

Answer 2

• Antimetabole
• Paradox, oxymoronic, natural order is disturbed and corrupted, appearance vs reality
• Foreshadows how the witches deceive Macbeth or the transition of Macbeth to tragic hero
• Maybe they mean the fairer sex (women) are more foul, links to Adam and Eve, women are fair on outside but foul inside
• Witches are ‘foul’ on outside, what they’re offering is attractive
• Equivocation, establishes the desire to create chaos
• Macbeth aligns himself with their twisted thinking in A1 S3 ‘so foul and fair a day’ negative audience reaction
• Trochaic tetrameter, all nobles speak in iambic pentameter, stilted and contrived feeling
• Links to idea of justifiable violence

Question 3

‘Something wicked this way comes’ (A4 S1)

Answer 3

• Evidence for his moral decline
• Pronoun suggests loss of humanity
• ‘This way’ - indicative of him choosing the supernatural path
• Transgresses moral beliefs of society