The first witch asks what the setting shall be for their next meeting, thunder, lightning and rain conditions that most people would find frightening and would stay away from. The second witch says that they will meet.
The witches are also extremely intelligent as they know what is happening in the area with the battle and they can see into the future. They are predicating the future so they know that exactly what is going to happen. This is also a sign of evil, as normal or good people cannot predict the future. As a stereotype witches are always know to be evil and mix not imaginary disgusting items together. Shakespeare uses this to show that the witches are definitely evil.
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair:”
This expresses the main themes in the play, the reversal of fortunes, and the fact that appearance can be deceptive. Also, we later see Macbeth is 'fair' in Duncan's eyes but underneath he is 'foul', he will later betray Duncan.
This is repeated or reflected all through the play and this line
We hear about Macbeth but we don't actually meet him till act 1, scene 3 when he goes with Banquo to meet the witches. There the witches tell Macbeth that he will be Thane of Glamis, Cawdor and king,
“All hail Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!”
“All hail to Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!”
“All hail to Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter.”
These are the three predictions made by the three witches. The first is to make Macbeth believe that they know what they are saying is the truth. The Thane of Glamis is his current title. The second predication is exactly what King Duncan wants him to be. It is a correct predication of what will happen in the future. The last predication is basically saying that Macbeth will be destroyed but this gets Macbeth interested. Macbeth is now showing signs of evil as in his mind he is worried about what he will have to do to become the King. He knows that the only way he will succeed in his ambition to become king is to kill the current King Duncan.
Banquo then asks the witches if they can tell his future and the witches reply with;
"Lesser than Macbeth, and greater"
This is saying that Banquo will be less important than Macbeth but happier and greater, the witches also tell Banquo that his ancestors will be king.
The witch's evil is more powerful so they do not answer Macbeth's questions and then disappear. This leaves Macbeth more tricked by them than before. Macbeth is wondering if the witches’ words are evil or not. He is wondering if the witches’ words are true then why is his body feeling distress after hearing them? This is where Macbeth's mind is straying towards murder. This is the evil inside Macbeth coming out slowly as it is Macbeth who mentions murder and the witches did not mention anything about killing anyone. It is Macbeth who is connecting getting kingship and murder, he leaves the idea of murder only as a fantasy and decides to chance if he will become king or not. Now Macbeth wants to hear more after his mind is fascinated with the thought of becoming King.
Macbeth being a brave and determined soldier has probably always been quite ambitious. Ambition comes into play after Macbeth finds out that he will one day be king of Scotland. He firstly decides to let time take its course and if he is to be king, so be it when the time is right and Macbeth is ready.
Lady Macbeth is also a victim of her husband's success. She falls to the high levels of pride after thinking of being called a queen if Macbeth is a king. She is constantly drilling the idea of killing the King in Macbeth's head and he trying his best to resist. However, she knows that there is still good inside Macbeth and in order to commit such a dreadful crime such as to murder the king she must remove all traces of good out of his system.
Shakespeare cleverly shows the power women have over men in the character of Lady Macbeth. He shows that a woman can make a man do anything that she wants him to do.
The language used in that quote gives the reader an impression about how evil effects people and what it makes people do. Also how they think that evil is something they can easily be escaped from and that it won’t bother them and that they can simply wash away they blood and therefore guilt.
“In thunder, lightning, or in rain?”
Super natural language is used here to create a confused spell and a black and dark atmosphere over the place where the witches are situated. The atmosphere in this scene is also created over the audience to horrify and scare them. The witches can make unimaginable predictions and can seem to tell the future.
"Hover through the fog and filthy air"
In this quote Shakespeare has used language and characters to give the reader an impression that the witches are going to pollute and corrupt the air much in the same way they are going to do with Macbeth. They are going to change how Macbeth thinks and considers things and also his moral values.
That is not the only way though that Shakespeare shows that evil is manipulative. Again, in the character of Lady Macbeth he shows her being manipulative. She makes Macbeth feel like he is not a man by making out it is not a big deal and that like the deed is easy and any normal man would do it. Overall she makes Macbeth feel pathetic and laughable, to make him do what she wants.
To get the audiences attention that they are fascinated by the witches and so they will be kept interested throughout the play. The witches were seen as very evil beings in the middle ages and the thought of them in the play made every part they are in a best moment.
Temptation is a point shown by Shakespeare as through out the play Macbeth is convinced, tempted and attracted by characters such as the witches and his wife. Shakespeare gives us the impression that the force of temptation is driven by evil.
Overall, the witches played a very important part in the play. They were a great influence on Macbeth's actions from the beginning, but there were also other influences on him. There were always two possible explanations why Macbeth did what he did, It's also possible that he had such a burning ambition to be king, he created the visions and made himself believe that believing the witches was the only way of fulfilling his ambition. An audience from the time of Shakespeare, would probably prefer to believe the supernatural explanation because at the time, witchcraft was a subject of popular fear and fascination. Today, with just a minority of people believing in the powers of witchcraft, an audience may believe the psychological explanation. Either way, the witches played a very important part in the play.
