MACBETH: Act 1, Scene 1
As the infamous Thunder and lightning crash down upon the Earth, Three mysterious old women, (the witches), emerge out of the darkness. In eerie, chanting tones, they make plans to assemble once again upon the heath, after the battle, to confront the Scottish nobleman Macbeth.
Act 1 Scene 1 of Macbeth plays a significant role in the play as Shakespeare uses this opening act in order to present a number of key underlying themes such as the supernatural and murder. It is also used to present the significance of the three witches in the play; their introduction as the first characters shown to the audience, implies the central role they will have in shaping the events of the play and its main character: Macbeth
First of all, Shakespeare has introduced the three witches in this opening act so that he could reveal the main role that they will possess throughout this dramatic play. This is apparent in the line ‘When shall we three meet again’ showing that their next appearance is imminent later on in the play. The three witches appear to lurk like dark, opaque, thoughts and so could be characterised as being temptations of evil, which prey on those whose minds are easily susceptible to change. One could say that these three old, haggard witches bare similar qualities to that of the fates. Such as their rugged countenance and their ‘ambiguous ‘language. The fates are the three female characters, which are from the renowned Greek mythology. Their purpose is to weave the ‘fabric’ of human lives and cut them once their life has ended. I am making this assumption from the line, ‘ when the battle’s lost and won’ this example highlights their ability to foresee the future. Suddenly, for most it is not so obvious what Shakespeare is talking about? This line has a lot more complexity compared to the other lines in this first scene. This is because of the opposing ideas that are put together in this line and as a result the actual meaning seems to have been turned into a paradox, for how can a battle be lost and won at the same time? Perhaps now the reader can appreciate and acknowledge Shakespeare’s extraordinary skills as a writer because he has made his characters utter lines that are ‘ambiguous’ in that they have multiple meanings or can be interpreted in different ways. The witches here may have not even been referring to the battle but to something else for example. After the appearance of the three witches, the audience would be left thinking whether or not the witches are working alone when toying with innocent human lives or if they are prophets of God (being sisters of fate). Yet one could also say that Shakespeare’s audience would be awfully frightened by these mysterious characters. I say this because people had believed that witches could cause bad weather and storms as shown by the extract ‘when shall we three meet again, in thunder lightning or in rain?’ This extract shows that the three witches can control the weather by using their supernatural powers. Their abilities such as the one I listed had terrified people, because who other than God can control the weather.
