Macbeth Personal Notes: Act 1 Scene 3 (Part 1)

Macbeth Personal Notes: Act 1 Scene 3 (Part 1)

Setting: The scene takes place on a heath near Forres.

Heath: A heath is a barren wasteland. 

Forres: A city in Scotland where the castle of King Duncan is located. 

Weather: The scene starts with the witches meeting with each other on a barren wasteland. The weather is one that is according to the preferences of the witches. It is lightning through the sky. The lightning symbolizes the unbalance in nature that the witches cause with their supernatural powers, and it also foreshadows the turbulence in Macbeth's heart a little bit ahead in scene that the witches' prophecies will cause.

Witches' favorite pastime activity: The scene showcases that the favorite pastime activity for the witches is to kill swine (old English word for pigs) and cause trouble for the normal human beings. The scene starts with the First Witch asking where the other witches were. The Second Witch answers that she had been killing swine as a leisure activity. The First Witch replies by sharing an unpleasant experience she had with a village woman. 

The First Witch had asked for chestnuts from a lady in the nearby village when the lady was eating them. But she had refused to give it to the witch and told her to begone. The witch was furious and decided to cause trouble for her in some way. The First Witch with help of her familiar (probably a rat) found out that the husband of that lady is the captain of the ship called The Tiger which has gone on a voyage to Aleppo.

The witch then announces that she will turn into a rat without a tail with her powers and then sail on a sieve (a kitchen instrument with nets, used for separating solids from liquids) and take her revenge. The scene shows how the witches defy the laws of nature as sailing through the seas on an object with holes is impossible and transforming oneself to a rat is beyond the common understanding of human minds.

Revenge of the First Witch on the lady's husband: The First Witch tells to the other two that she has control over the winds and the compass that the captain of the ship carries to check the direction. The First Witch will torment the captain so much that he will become as dry and thin as a hay (grass). He will not be able to sleep neither in day nor in night. His eyelids like the penthouse lid will always be open. He will live as a man who has been forbidden even the basic of necessities like sleep and water. He will suffer for eighty-one weeks on his ship. Though his ship will not drown in the ocean, it will be tossed around by great storms. 

Posters of sea and land: The witches are supernatural entities. They are not bound by the laws and restriction like normal mortals They have vast amounts of power. The witches could travel swiftly and easily through the seas and lands with their supernatural powers.  

"So foul and fair a day I have not seen"

Macbeth comments on the weather that it is very foul. The weather might be influenced by the presence of the three witches who are waiting for Macbeth on the way to Forres. Shakespeare hints the similarities between Macbeth and the witches as they both have used the same word "foul" when they first make their appearance. Macbeth is assumably a favored victim of the witches because of the turbulence in his morality as he struggles between a brave hero and an ambitious villain. By fair Macbeth means about the results of the battle that he had fought. 

"That look not like the inhabitants of the earth, and yet are on it"

Banquo, the companion of Macbeth, is shocked to spot the three weird sisters who look withered by their flesh and wild by the clothes they are wearing. It is hard for Banquo to imagine such creatures could walk on the surface of the earth. 

Banquo turns to question them whether they live or are something that a person may find doubtful.

The witches in return signals for Banquo to be silent.

Banquo observes that these creatures must be women deducting from their wrinkled fingers and skinny lips, yet they have beards that makes Banquo doubtful of his deduction. 

"Good sir, why do you start" 

Banquo notices that his friend Macbeth is visibly shaken by the witches' prediction. Macbeth is an ambitious person, and he always wished to rise to the top. A King is the highest position in the noble hierarchy. Macbeth is shaken when he heard that his inner intentions may come true.

"Who neither beg nor fear your favors, nor your hate"

Banquo is a moral person and cannot be swayed by evil thoughts nor by the agents of the evil. He wishes to rise but he is still loyal. He has great faith in his guardian angels who will protect him from the persuasion of the evil.

"Saty, you imperfect speakers"

Macbeth calls out to the witches to tell him more about the predictions. He says that after his father, Sinel's death, he became the Thane of Glamis, but how will he become the Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth is not aware of the Thane of Cawdor's revolt and thinks that he is alive and is a prosperous gentleman. Macbeth asks them from where they got this strange intelligence of his future and why have they chosen this heath to stop Macbeth and Banquo to give such predictions.

Witches Vanish

The witches suddenly disappear into the air without answering Macbeth's questions.