Act 1 Scene 1

Act 1 Scene 1

Witches vow to meet Macbeth after the battle and they call their familiar spirits
1. Planing to meet Macbeth
Stage direction
1. 'Thunder and lightning'
  1. ominous dreary atmosphere
    1. Pathetic fallacy
  2. 'A desolate place'
    1. Alone, away from humanity, outside normality
2. 'through the fog and filthy air'
Idea of threes
1. solo lines
  1. One after the other
Chant like
1. Not in blank verse
  1. Trochaic tetrameter
    1. Rhyming couplets
      1. 'trouble/double'
2. due to the sense of rhythm and rhyme- hypnotising effect
3. Speak in unison
Opposites- antithesis
1. 'Fair is foul, and foul is fair'
  1. alliteration
    1. confusing, illusive nature of the witches
  2. difference between appearance and reality
  3. paradoxical lines
    1. contradictory or inconsistent ideas that are spoken as facts
    2. 'When the battle's lost, and won.'
  4. equivocation - use of misleading/ ambiguous language intended to deceive others
Idea of the supernatural
1. Mentioning Macbeth - looking into the future
  1. Reference to their familiars- demon advisors
    1. 'Graymalkin'
      1. grey cat
    2. 'Paddock'
      1. toad
    3. Reflects Elizabethan beliefs about witches
      1. Stigma around witchcraft
  2. ominous sign
2. verbs
  1. 'hover'
    1. ghastly- reflects audiences' beliefs
      1. Reflects the supernatural hold on the earth
    2. flying

Resource summary

	Created by Kujani Wanniarachchi about 7 years ago