How does Shakespeare present Macbeth’s relationship with the Witches in Act 1 of the play?
You must consider language, form and structure in your answer and refer to the context of the play.
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How does Shakespeare present Macbeth’s relationship with the Witches in
Act 1 of the play?
You must consider language, form and structure in your answer and refer to
the context of the play.
The characters of Macbeth and the three Witches – the relationship between them especially –
greatly affects the outcome of events in the course of the play. The persistent relationship between
Macbeth and the three Witches is the core element of the entire plot of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
When Macbeth meets the Witches, he naively sees them as being honest and blindly believes them
right away. Since the Witches have established a mutual bond with Macbeth, they are indirectly
affecting Lady Macbeth, his wife, transforming her from a cold and heartless character to a
remorseful and suicidal one, connecting her to the evil.
In Act 1, Scene 2, Macbeth is introduced to the audience as a loyal warrior - a hero who
courageously fights in battles to defend his own country against invasion and betrayal. But at the
same time, Macbeth’s interaction with the Witches reveals a different side of the character’s
personality – one hidden from others. “There to meet with Macbeth,” from the very beginning of
the play, the Witches demonstrate the importance of Macbeths’ presence to their evil course of
action. From this moment onwards there is a permanent, everlasting connection that has been
established between Macbeth and the Witches.
In Act 1 scene 1, the Second Witch mentions a battle that could be interpreted as not just a physical
battle between Norway and Scotland, but also a metaphorical battle: the battle for Macbeth’s soul
and sanity. It is significant that Macbeth’s first words to the Witches – “So foul and fair a day I have
not seen” – echoing the Witches’ chant, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”. The Witches’ chant represents
a form of inverse morality because they are ultimately saying that what is wrong is right and vice
versa. The concept of good and evil being mistaken for each other is one presented many times
throughout the play. Furthermore, the words "foul" and "fair" could be seen as a reference to the
Witches being perceived as being "foul" but in fact "fair" since their prophecies were right about
Macbeth; indicating their supernatural element. Shakespeare uses pathetic fallacy, “fog and filthy
air,” to suggest that the characters are being influenced by evil and supernatural forces, linking back
to the fact that they won’t be able to tell the good from the evil apart anymore.
The prophecy the Witches foretell in Act 1, Scene 3 to Macbeth and Banquo, is the driving force of
the play. Macbeth’s obsession with the prophecies and ambition for power drives him to insanity,
however, in Shakespearean times this would have been seen as Macbeth being possessed by the
Witches. The idea of Macbeth being possessed is one that has been proved many times throughout
the play. From the very start for the play, Macbeth naturally talks in a similar manner to the Witches,
well before the Witches present their prophecies to him; being one of the first signs of him being
possessed. Later in the play, it is apparent that Macbeth and his wife are having trouble sleeping, a
symptom associated with being possessed. Macbeth also seems happy to let fate run its course,
eventually leading to the murder of Duncan due to his choice of ambition over morality.
Although the Witches aren’t physically affecting the characters in the play, Shakespeare conveys the
idea that the Witches do indeed have a violent element to their collective character. Using their
prophecies, the Witches are indirectly influencing or causing the murderous actions of Macbeth,
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