“Fair is foul and foul is fair”
-Talk about this phrase from the first scene of the play, when the witches first appear.
-What does this phrase suggest about the mood at this stage in the play?
The witches will re-appear in this scene. Here are some of the things they say. Can you tell from these extracts whether the witches are:
-Good
-Evil
-Neither good nor evil
-Ordinary women labelled as witches
-Supernatural beings
How do you know from:
-What they say
-How they say it
Reading the scene up to 1.88
-Talk about the reactions of Macbeth and Banquo
-What’s the men’s view on whether the witches are good/evil/supernatural?
-What happens next?
-What are the reactions of Macbeth and Banquo?
Look through the scene and find as many examples as you can of questions and riddles. Pick which of these motifs you think are developed in this scene by the use of so many questions and riddles:
Anger / Ambition / Uncertainty / Trust /
The difference between appearance and reality / Love / Good and evil
Macbeth - character
Macbeth at the start of the play:
-A good man who knows his place
-Loyal servant of the King
Macbeth as a military leader
An able general
- plans the tactics of the battle well
(able to respond to the attacks of Sweno and Macdonwald)
- A brave fighter on the battlefield (as Ross and the Captain show in Iii).
-Especially ferocious in killing Macdonwald; hates traitors
-Very loyal
Saturday, October 07, 2006;
the end
the end