The witches
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Who are they?
Three figures whose supernatural predictions tempt Macbeth. They summon apparitions, but the apparitions speak their own assurances.
Actions and development
Act 1.1: arranging the encounter: Plan to meet Macbeth after the battle and speak a paradox that confuses moral categories.
Audience / reader: Their unexplained knowledge and stormy entrance may create unease before Macbeth appears.
Act 1.3: offering predictions: Greet Macbeth with present and future titles and predict kingship for Banquo’s descendants.
Audience / reader: The fulfilled Cawdor prediction may make the remaining promises tempting without making them trustworthy.
Act 4.1: summoning apparitions: Present supernatural speakers whose warnings and assurances Macbeth interprets as guarantees of safety.
Audience / reader: Viewers may question the gap between the exact wording and Macbeth’s confident conclusions.
Act 4.1: showing further kings: Reveal a line of kings resembling Banquo, then disappear before satisfying Macbeth’s demands.
Audience / reader: The spectacle may frustrate Macbeth’s wish to control succession and leave his knowledge incomplete.
What the character says — “Fair is foul, and foul is fair”
All three witches · Act 1.1: opening encounter planned
Method: Paradox and reversed syntax
Reversed opposites unsettle moral categories rather than provide a reliable system for judging events.
What the character says — “king hereafter”
Third Witch · Act 1.3: greeting Macbeth
Method: Future prediction
The prediction promises kingship without ordering murder; Macbeth supplies violent possibilities himself.
What the character says — “Something wicked this way comes”
Second Witch · Act 4.1: Macbeth approaches
Method: Evaluative adjective
The adjective reverses their flattering welcome, marking Macbeth’s conduct without proving total supernatural control.
What others say or describe — “instruments of darkness”
Banquo · Act 1.3: warning Macbeth
Method: Metaphor
Banquo warns that truthful details can become tools of harm; this is not their self-description.
What others say or describe — “none of woman born”
Second Apparition, not a witch · Act 4.1: second apparition
Method: Equivocal wording
The assurance depends on a distinction about birth that Macbeth’s confident interpretation overlooks.
What others say or describe — “Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill”
Third Apparition, not a witch · Act 4.1: third apparition
Method: Apparently impossible condition
Soldiers carrying branches later explain the condition. These words belong to the apparition, not the witches.
Structure and dramatic choices
The first meeting initiates speculation; Macbeth actively seeks the second, showing his growing dependence on prediction.
Their scenes alternate between brief verbal riddles and theatrical apparitions; partial knowledge repeatedly exceeds Macbeth’s ability to interpret it.
Relevant context
Setting: supernatural encounters in medieval Scotland; the play is not documentary evidence of historical witchcraft.
Jacobean reception, c.1606: James’s interest in witchcraft made these figures topical; viewers’ beliefs still varied.
Check your understanding
Who speaks each assurance in Act 4.1?
Which violent decisions does Macbeth make without a witch explicitly ordering them?