In the next scene, Duncan learns of Macbeth's bravery in battle against a Scot who sided with Norway. Simultaneously, he hears of the treachery of the Thane of Cawdor, so Duncan announces that for Macbeth’s bravery he will get the title of Thane of Cawdor, so the audience gets to know this before Macbeth finds out and this is called dramatic irony.
Act One Scene III begins with the three witches once more, who claim to have been “killing swine” which immediately associates them with evil. The audience in the 1600’s would have been scared of the witches as previously mentioned due to the suspicions that lingered with them and what was though of them in those times. The witches then tell of how they tried to steal chestnuts from a sailor’s wife yet she was protected by religion so the witches decide to take their revenge not on the woman but on her husband, who is the captain of a ship. The witches cannot kill the captain as they have not the power to do, so this would have cast doubts in the audience’s mind about the witches power and if they really are as powerful as first believed, but they can influence the weather and decide to make storms and rough seas to deprive the sailor of sleep for “sev’n-nights nine times nine” which is the same of eighty-one weeks without sleep, which would have caused him serious problems. Shakespeare creates tension and drama character to the three witches by using rhymes and paradoxes, which by now the audience would have been fully convinced the witches are evil. The structure of the play is also fast paced which is very effective in creating dramatic characters around the witches.
When Macbeth first enters in scene iii he says, “So foul and fair a day I have not seen”, which is immediately striking because the witches said with “foul” and “fair”, earlier in the play that is kind of the same thing Macbeth said. This makes the audience consider the possibility that there may be some kind of link between Macbeth and the witches or that the witches have already infiltrated the mind of the main character. Banquo leads on from Macbeth’s line with a small speech which simply outlines the fact that the witches are “wild in their attire” and “withered” and that it is hard to determine whether they are a person and questionable let alone the gender that they may be, because their features forbid Banquo to presume they are feminine. The witches deliver there predicament to Macbeth which the first witch exclaims “All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!”, the second “All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!” and the third produces “All hail Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!” These three lines are the whole basis for the play and are crucial to the audience, as they already that he is going to be Thane of Cawdor and this will make them think the predictions will come true and that Macbeth will be king, but he doesn’t know this yet.
Then what follows is a contrast between Banquo and Macbeth as Banquo shows no fear of the witches and questions the witches are talking rubbish but Macbeth starts to get rapped up in his predicament, and thinking about being king. The witches then appear to disappear so Macbeth shouts, “stay you imperfect speakers”; he is clear confused by what the witches are predicting. He declares that he knows of how he became Thane of Glamis but demands of how will he become Thane of Cawdor and also how of becoming King. As soon as they disappear Macbeth is wondering about it all, but Banquo is a bit confused and wondering is it was all a hallucination.
When Ross and Angus, enter the scene and talk about the King’s admiration for Macbeth and of his recent victory on the battlefield. This brings hope to Macbeth that perhaps he may be named heir to the throne but what happens next is as he is named Thane of Cawdor. This is a great dramatic scene as straight away Macbeth is overwhelmed and not sure of the witches and maybe that they were talking the truth and as they were true in the predicament that Macbeth would be Thane of Cawdor, so maybe the witches were true about him being queen and this is the same for the audience as well as they are not sure about what to think about Macbeth. When the messengers leave Banquo remains cautious and suggest that the witches are filling them with evil and telling them little things, which are true to, make Macbeth believe in the bigger things, in this case the prophecy that he will become King. But Macbeth remains unsure of it all and starts believe that he will become king and starts to think of murdering Duncan but this horrifies him and he is not sure why. The thought of murder seems to shake him up and he immediately decides that “if chance will have me King, why chance may crown me”, which means he will wait for Duncan to crown him and not influence it in anyway. As Macbeth is the first to suggest murder, it seems that the witches have influenced him and they have turned him to evil and this would have made the audience very wary of Macbeth. To end the scene Banquo seens to be shaken up by it all but Macbeth suggest that he and Banquo should speak to each other about what has happened, “ let us speak our free hearts”. This is relatively significant as he uses language, which implies that he has complete control over his feelings, but the audience knows his mind is not free but controlled by witches and his own greed.
Shakespeare as shows the scenes with great character contrast and dramatic tension, by using the superstitions of the time to influence the audience that witches are evil, but he makes them unsure of Macbeth right until the end of scene iii. The language he uses is very menacing and the stagecraft he uses is crucial, like words spoken aside, which let the audience know what the character is feeling and gives the audience an insight into what the characters were really like on the inside.
Throughout the play the dramatic structures and devices used in showing the characters, especially Macbeth and the witches, really uses the superstitions of the time making a disturbing, tension filled play. If the play was shown in these days, I doubt it would have the same affect as we do not have the superstitions as they did I those days.
