MACBETH: Act 1, Scene 1 + 2

MACBETH: Act 1, Scene 1 + 2

1. SCENE 1

   • The witches gather, planning to meet Macbeth after the battle
   • A Prologue of evil
     • A very short scene opens the play. It's long enough to awaken curiosity, but not satisfy it.
       • Comes in at the end of their meeting, before their 'familiar spirits' - devils in animal shapes - call them away into the 'fog and filthy air'
         • The mood is set in this scene.
   • • "When shall we three meet again? In thunder lightning or rain?"
     • "when the battle's lost and won."
       • Contrast between lost and won -part of idiom paradoxial
       • 'lost' and 'won' - contrast, part of idiom paradoxical
     • "Fair is foul, and foul is fair, Hover through the fog and filthy air."
     • Chant-like with rhymes

2. SCENE 2

   • takes place after the battle against the invading Norweigan forces, with the Captain telling King Duncan and his sons what happened
     • Macbeth fought with courage and killed many enemies. He and Banquo helped bring a great victory for Scotland and the King
       • Macbeth gets rewarded with the title 'Thane of Cawdor' - a title that once belonged to 'a most disloyal traitor'

Images and files in the map