How is the atmosphere of evil achieved in Macbeth? What does it contribute to the events of the play?
By Rob Brown
" Fair is foul, and foul is fair;
Hover through the fog and filthy air"
(I,i,L-11-12)
The witches immediately set the scene for the whole play with these two lines at the end of Scene One. They are describing a role-reversal where everything that was good is now evil, and everything that was evil has become good. These 'creatures' (for there is some doubt as to whether they are actually human) are responsible for much of the atmosphere that is created in the play as a whole). They are also one of the driving forces behind Macbeth's ambition, because if they hadn't told him that he'd "...be King hereafter" (I,iii, L-50) he would never have wanted to become King, or at least he would have waited his turn. The witches therefore gave him the initial spur to kill Duncan, and are the cause of unnatural effects that happen in the play.
By Rob Brown
" Fair is foul, and foul is fair;
Hover through the fog and filthy air"
(I,i,L-11-12)
The witches immediately set the scene for the whole play with these two lines at the end of Scene One. They are describing a role-reversal where everything that was good is now evil, and everything that was evil has become good. These 'creatures' (for there is some doubt as to whether they are actually human) are responsible for much of the atmosphere that is created in the play as a whole). They are also one of the driving forces behind Macbeth's ambition, because if they hadn't told him that he'd "...be King hereafter" (I,iii, L-50) he would never have wanted to become King, or at least he would have waited his turn. The witches therefore gave him the initial spur to kill Duncan, and are the cause of unnatural effects that happen in the play.