Choose three scenes from Macbeth and show how Shakespeare uses them for dramatic effects and how they reflect the social and historical attitude of the period.

"When the hurly-burly's done,

When the battle's lost and won." - 2nd Witch, Act 1 Scene 1

They speak in riddles, "lost and won", "fair is foul and foul is fair". They seem to tell us that winning and losing are closely connected. What seems to be a success is really a failure, as Macbeth discovers in the course of the play. The witches seem to have an interest in Macbeth, why, we do not know, but he is introduced to us in an atmosphere of evil. Their puzzling references seem to suggest a reversal of normal moral values and the physical conditions present strengthen the feelings, the storm in the heavens and the "hurly-burly" of the battle on earth.

The puzzles continue when they lie in wait for him in Act 1 Scene3. Their evil and vicious natures are revealed when they trade insults with others, when they plot the death of a sailor because his wife has insulted the first witch.

"Sleep shall neither night nor day

Hang upon his penthouse lid." - 1st Witch, Act 1 Scene 3

Macbeth is naturally surprised that they know who he is and even more surprised when they greet him as Thane of Cowder and as the future King. He is not first surprised; he is started, as if they have road the innermost secrets of his heart. When Banquo wants to know his future, they revert to paradoxes again and tell him he will be:

st Witch: "Lesser than Macbeth, and greater."

2nd Witch: "Not so happy, yet much happier."

3rd Witch: "Thou shalt get kings, though thou be no - Act 1 Scene 3

Almost as soon as the witches disappear Ross and Angus tell Macbeth that King Duncan has created Macbeth Thane of Cawdor in return of his loyalty and bravery in battle. Macbeth is thunderstruck. The first ambition is at once fulfilled. Clearly, as Macbeth later writes to his wife:

"They have more in them than mortal knowledge." - Act 1 Scene 5

He believes them; partly because they seem to speak the truth and partly because they tell him things he wants to hear.

The witches' powers are revealed when they plot against the sailor's wife, but there is a limit to their power, they cannot destroy the sailor's bark, but they can torture him. They cannot corrupt the virtuous. They can only work on the evil they, already find in their victims' minds. When Macbeth gives 'a guilty start' he shows he is in tune with these people. He is shaken that this thought of murder lies deep in his mind. Now it rises to the surface and he is horrified to discover he could even think of such evil. However, he tries to suppress the evil thought and concludes with the simple thought,

"If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me

Without my stir." - Macbeth, Act 1 Scene 3

Macbeth is not a good dissembler, and the stirrings of guilt are already beginning to separate him from ordinary human society. Banquo tries genially to excuse his behaviour by picking up Macbeth's accusation that they were dressing him in 'borrowed robes' and suggesting that his new honours,

"Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould

But with the aid of use." - Banquo, Act 1 Scene 3

It is Banquo who see through the evil intentions of the witches and who observes.

"And oftentimes, to win is to our harm,

The instruments of darkness tell us truths,

Win us with honest trifles, to betray's

In deepest consequence." - Banquo, Act1 Scene 3

It is important to notice that Macbeth ignores Banquo's crucial warning. As soon as he witches have spoken to him we see him plunged in thought, their words sinking down through the layers of his mind and his imagination. When he breaks into soliloquy it is to express horror at the thought of murdering his king,

"This supernatural soliciting

Cannot be ill, cannot be good.

If ill, why do I yield to that suggestion

Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair.

And made my seated heart knock at my ribs

Against the use of nature?" - Macbeth, Act 1 Scene 3

He has thought of murder, and until Duncan is dead we shall see him wrestling with almost unbearable temptation.

The scene is highly dramatic and would have left the audience very excited and tense. The witches know so much about Macbeth. They even know that Duncan has decided to give Macbeth the 'Thane of Cawdor' title. The audience love such dramatic scenes. The thunder and lightening add to the drama of the scene and is the kind of effect, which would have pleased the audience. The witches also disappear at the end. This sudden action creates a great dramatic weather chance, with sudden appearance and disappearance.

Macbeth has believed the witches, perhaps because it suited him to do so. The backing of such supernatural creatures gives him the assurance that his ambition to be king is possible after all, if he does but put aside his conscience and bring about the king's death. He struggles against the temptation, but Lady Macbeth's ambition is far more intense than his and she shames him as a coward and by the force of her arguments sways him to agree to her plan to murder Duncan.

Macbeth, up to this point, is almost drunk with his own power and ambition. He does not even hesitate to make rash decisions. He is obsessed with reigning as king, but does not realize that what he is doing to make himself more powerful is actually leading him to a tragic and fatal downfall. He is only interested in himself and his power, but does not even take into consideration that his actions are causing him to be less powerful. Macbeth, while trying to stay powerful, also becomes paranoid. He never feels like he is at his height of power, and therefore feels like others were out to take his power away from him.

After the murder of Duncan, Banquo becomes suspicious of Macbeth. There is constantly more guilt and fear inside Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Banquo makes it obvious that he suspects foul play,

"Fears and scruples shakes us" - Banquo Act 2 Scene 3

Macbeth's guilty mind is afraid Banquo might discover the truth; "There is none but he whose being I do fear". He is also bitter that if the witches' prophecies come true, he has killed Duncan for benefit of Banquo's descendents. He arranges with two murderers to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance. Banquo is killed but Fleance escapes to fulfil the prophecy and Macbeth is again thrown into an agony of horror.

Murder: "Fleance is 'scap'd."

Macbeth: "Then comes my fit again: I had else been perfect;

Whole as the marble, founded as the rock,

As broad and general as the casing air:

But now I am cabin'd, confin'd, bound in

To saucy doubts and fears. But Banquo's safe?"

- Act 3 Scene 4

But this suffering is nothing compared with the terror that comes to Macbeth when the ghost of Banquo takes place at the feast. Not only has Macbeth failed to control his fate, he is now haunted by a world of ghosts whose existence he had not even suspected. Far worse than the vision of the dagger, this ghostly visitation drives Macbeth to the edge of sanity and the understanding that, as a mere man, he cannot compete with the spiritual world.

Macbeth and Lady Macbeth make a great show of preparing for the banquet, but Banquo's seat is empty. Macbeth comes in and sees Banquo's ghost in his seat. He reacts violently and startles the guests. Lady Macbeth makes excuse for him, but the thanes are suspicious and Macbeth has to use increasingly desperate measures to maintain his power. Macbeth throws the calm, and organised atmosphere of the banquet into turmoil. Macbeth was probably hoping for a dignified occasion to mark his crowning, but has ended up with confusion.

Macbeth fears Banquo's ghost because it has come to accuse him of its murder. In Act 3 Scene 3, Macbeth was saying how lucky Duncan was because he was at peace in death. Macbeth had thought that the dead sleep well, but here they rise up again. So he worries that even in death there may be no peace for Macbeth. In a sense Macbeth summons Banquo's ghost as he sees the vision each time, he has just mentioned Banquo and how he misses his presence.

Shakespeare uses the supernatural as a hinge on which the plot turns. The contribution of Banquo is ironic. He did not expose Macbeth in the life, but does so by his death. The ghost seems to appear when Macbeth thinks of Banquo, when he expresses a wish that Banquo is present, and then the 'ghost' obliges him.

The drama lies in the fact that no one else sees the ghost and the audience only know what he looks like from Macbth's description of him. Lady Macbeth adds to the tension by finding excuse for Macbeth's behaviour. She knows he is under great stress, but does not at first know why. Yet she keeps the drama building up by her clever excuses for him, damply that he suffers from delusions since his youth. The dramatic effect is very strong because the others at the banquet act bewildered when Macbeth talks to an empty seat.

"Thou canst not say I did it; never shake

Thy glory locks at me." - Macbeth, Act 3 Scene 4

William Shakespeare employs the imagery of darkness in Act 4 Scene 1 to describe the agents of disorder. The witches, Macbeth, and Scotland are all described as dark because they represent the agents of confusion. The witches in Act 4 Scene 1 are depicted as agents of disorder because of the dark field around them. The witches meet in a dark cave. The cave is an appropriate setting for the witches because caves tend to represent the under-world and hell, creating a feeling of evil. The witches' dark meeting place and dark appearance all highlight their harmful nature.

The witches know that Macbeth intends to visit them and prepare their charm. Hecate instructs them to tell him what he wants to know. They appear in symbolic form. The first, 'an armed head', represents Macbeth's own head, as it is cut off and brought to Malcolm in Act 5, Scene 7. The 'bloody child' that comes next is Macduff, who had been untimely ripped from his mother's womb. And the last, the royal child with a tree in his hand, is Malcolm, the rightful king of Scotland, who approaches the palace at Dunsinane camouflaged with tree-branches. Macbeth cannot interpret these symbols, but Shakespeare expects the audience to understand what is meant. This is dramatic irony when the truth of a situation is known to the audience but hidden from the characters in the play. There is dramatic irony; too, in the words spoken by the apparitions, for again we understand the real meanings, while Macbeth can only understand the apparent meanings of the words. The first apparition warns Macbeth to be cautious of Macduff, but the second assure him that mo man of woman born can harm him and the third say he will not be beaten until Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane. Macbeth is filled with confidence:

"That will never be.

Who can impress the forest, bid the tree

Unfix his earth-bound root?" - Macbeth, Act 4 Scene 1

The witches urge Macbeth not to seek to know more, but he insists and is shown eight kings indicating the Banquo's descendents will be crowned. Macbeth is dejected. He slaughters anyone whom he thinks stands in his way, beginning with Macduff's family.

This scene continues the drama of the first what the audience expect Hecate herself makes an appearance. The dramatic impact would have been intense. The mentions of the charms for the plot are just the right dramatic touch to convince the audience that evil is afoot. There would be great apparition over the cauldron and the heads rising out of it. Again, they disappear and leaving many questions unanswered.

Macbeth's ambition is what allowed him to become powerful. Without ambition, it is impossible to achieve goals. Therefore, ambition is what allowed Macbeth to overcome his barrier and come closer to his final goals. As soon as he developed the trait of vaulting ambition, Macbeth is able to make his life fall into place exactly the way he wants it to. He first murders Duncan so that he will become king. Macbeth's ambition is directly the cause of this tragic incident. This murder is in cold evil blood by Macbeth's own hand. Then he ventures on even farther to protect his crown. He proceeds in his evil plans by killing Banquo. This is the climax of the play as well as the height of Macbeth's vaulting ambition.

The supernatural atmosphere is charged with evil. In all the supernatural scenes Shakespeare makes the plot move forward, but he always shows that the witches wield the power of evil by speaking in riddles and Macbeth believes what he wants to believe. He interprets their words to suit his witches and in this way evil takes over completely. In my opinion Macbeth becomes a butcher killing all those he suspects of standing in his way. Unfortunately his great ambition destroyed him and his relationship between his wife, friends (Banquo) and King Duncan. He was simply tempted by the witches to commit these acts with the only motive being personal glory and achievements. Only at the end does he realise that the supernatural has deceived him and led him to his doom.

"Accursed be that tells me so,

For it hath cowed my better part of man.

And be these juggling fiends no more believed,

That palter with us in a double sense;

That keep the word of promise to our ear,

And break it to our hope." - Macbeth, Act 5 Scene 8