Witches- supernatural

Witches- supernatural

1. "thunder & lightening"

   • pathetic fallacy
     • foreshawoing the best events to happen, that will be 'bad' like the weather
   • eerie atmophere
   • foreshadows disaster & darkness
   • begins with the witches, in 'a desert place'
     • supports the fcat theyre feared... far away, only have eachother
     • dark world... confusion... everything is't as it seems...

2. "weird sisters"

   • Banquo even thinks they're strange
   • The sisters are called "witches" only once in the play—but they're called "weird" six.
     • The word "weird" comes from the Old English term "wyrd," meaning "fate," so this could imply they're in some way associated with the three fates of classical mythology. Since the "fates" are supposed to control man's destiny, calling them "weird" just might suggest that Macbeth doesn’t have any control over his actions, and that his choices aren't really his to make.

3. "fair is foul & foul is fair"

   • what is 'fair' is good, nice and fretty and 'foul' is ugly
     • the witches are referring first to themselves. They look ugly, but the predictions they offer are beautiful to Macbeth. They are then referring to the entire world of the play.
   • its a motif that runs throughout the play. At the most basic level, it means that appearances can be deceiving: that which seems “fair” and good is actually “foul” and evil.
     • EG At the beginning of the play, King Duncan believes Macbeth to be a loyal servant but Macbeth eventually betrays Duncan’s trust and murders him to steal the throne.
   • OR

4. "hover through the fog and filthy air"

   • 'fog' & 'filthy' imply they are jus as murky & mysterious as the air
     • hard to understand

5. "double double, toil & trouble / Fires burn & cauldron bubble"

   • speak rhythmically, as if they're separately from the other characters, which infers they hold power

6. "instruments of darkness" - Banquo says

   • metaphor

7. "all hail Macbeth who shalt be king hereafter"

   • encouraging MB... praising him

8. act as 'fate', like a narrator

9. CONTEXT

   • people of the time feared , along with faries
     • creatures of the night and the devil.
       • "black and midnight hags"

10. dont have enough power to create the evil, but act as a Catalyst for main events, eg murder of King Duncan

11. Aperance VS Reality