Macbeth : Considered one of William Shakespeare's darkest and most powerful tragedies. Written
during the reign of James I, who had been James VI of Scotland before he succeeded to the English
throne in 1603, so probably written between 1603 and 1607 (some say 1606). Nobody can be sure about
the exact date but the earliest performance mentioned is 1611. James I was a patron of Shakespeare’s
acting company, and of all the plays Shakespeare wrote during James’s reign, Macbeth most clearly
reflects the playwright’s relationship with the sovereign.
Set in Scotland, the play dramatizes the corrosive psychological and political effects produced when
evil is chosen as a way to fulfill one's ambition for power. Indeed, Shakespeare's ambitious
protagonist, Macbeth, murders King Duncan, and the playwright recounts his downfall as a tragic
hero.
Why this downfall ? During Shakespeare's time people believed that god had created man and the
world. They believed that an order had to be respected. In this order, everything had its proper place:
- god - king - men - Animals.
If a man wanted to rise too high he committed a sin because he had too much ambition, therefore, he had
to be punished.
In act I and II ► Macbeth, encouraged by his wife, kills King Duncan and rises to the throne
Act III and IV ► Macbeth becomes the detested king
Act V ► Macbeth's downfall
Beginning of the play : Times of war. 3 witches stand on the stage and inform us of both the battle and their
connection with Macbeth, the main protagonist. He is one of King Duncan's general.
ACT I SCENE I. A desert place.
The stage directions indicate that the play begins with a storm, and malignant supernatural forces immediately
appear in the form of the three witches.
Thunder and lightning. Enter three Witches
First Witch
When shall we three meet again
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
Second Witch
When the hurlyburly's done,
When the battle's lost and won.
Third Witch
That will be ere the set of sun.
First Witch
Where the place?
Second Witch
Upon the heath.
Third Witch
There to meet with Macbeth.
First Witch
I come, Graymalkin!
Second Witch
Paddock calls.
Third Witch
Anon.
ALL
Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.
At the same time, the first three scenes establish a dark
mood that permeates the entire play. The stage directions
indicate that the play begins with a storm. There are thunder
and flashes which creates a supernatural atmosphere. Wild
stormy exterior. Malignant supernatural forces immediately
appear in the form of the three witches. These
witches/"weird sisters" are ambiguous creatures – perhaps
not even human.
They seem to meet when certain conditions have
been met. They speak in enigmatic turns.
-They arrange to meet again when the noise of the
battle is over. : they will meet "WHEN THE BATTLE'S
LOST AND WON" which sounds like a contradiction
but could mean, that the battle has both been
dreadful (because many men were killed on the
battle field) and splendid because Macbeth and his
men were victorious.
-the meetings must take place when daylight fades
away
in a desert place(the Scottish moor). They create a
sense of mystery.
They indicate that shortly they intend to meet
Macbeth and prepare to entice him to evil.
Talking to her cat…
Says her toad, Paddock is calling her
Talking to a spirit
They depart with this incantation. The fact that they
are evil is shown in this final couplet. "fair is foul
and foul is fair" or in other words, good is bad and
bad is good.  Figure of speech= oxymoron. They
are violating God's natural order.
(Of course this oxymoron also means that people and things may not be what they seem to be.)
To form a full picture of these witches, it is necessary to study their appearances in Act 1 scene 3
as well as Act IV scene 1.
(In scene 2 Macbeth is introduced to us as a brave and courageous soldier).
In scene 3, He is coming back from war and the 3 witches are waiting for him. They appear again to
the sound of thunder. Macbeth and his friend Banquo are victorious over Norway. They go to the king's
castle because he wants to congratulate them. They cross the moor and meet three witches. The first witch
salute him as Thane of Glamis, the second as Thane of Cawdor, and the third as king of Scotland. They
also tell Banquo he'll never be a king but his son will.
SCENE III. A heath near Forres.
Thunder. Enter the three Witches
The first three scenes establish a dark mood that permeates the
entire play. Here again, storm and desert moor. The witches
meet again and exchange on all the evil things they have done.
First Witch
Where hast thou been, sister?
Second Witch
Killing swine.
This to show how evil they are
Third Witch
Sister, where thou?
First Witch
A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap,
they are mean and resentful/rancorous.
And munch'd, and munch'd, and munch'd:-insulted by a sailor's wife…
'Give me,' quoth I:
'Aroint thee, witch!' the rump-fed ronyon cries.
Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger:
…she promises to get her revenge on the woman
But in a sieve I'll thither sail,
by attacking her husband and doing wrong to him
And, like a rat without a tail,
She plans to board his ship in the form of a rat
I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.
And use her magic to ruin his sleep and health
Second Witch
I'll give thee a wind.
The other 2 encourage her
First Witch
Thou'rt kind.
This excerpt shows the witches as evil. It
Third Witch
is here to complete the description of
And I another.
these 3 creatures. They are here, boasting
First Witch
of their exploits, thus giving us an
I myself have all the other,
I already have control of all the
example of their powers and waiting for
And the very ports they blow,
other winds, along with the
Macbeth on whom they will cast a spell.
All the quarters that they know
ports from which they blow and
I' the shipman's card.
every direction on the sailor’s
I will drain him dry as hay:
Sleep shall neither night nor day compass in which they can go.
I’ll drain the life out of him. He
Hang upon his pent-house lid;
won’t catch a wink of sleep,
He shall live a man forbid:
Weary se'nnights nine times nine either at night or during the
Shall he dwindle, peak and pine: day. He will live as a cursed
Though his bark cannot be lost,
man. For eighty-one weeks he
Yet it shall be tempest-tost.
will waste away in agony.
Look what I have.
Second Witch
Show me, show me.
First Witch
Here I have a pilot's thumb,
Wreck'd as homeward he did come.
Drum within
Third Witch
A drum, a drum!
Macbeth doth come.
ALL
The weird sisters, hand in hand,
Posters of the sea and land,
Thus do go about, about:
Thrice to thine and thrice to mine
And thrice again, to make up nine.
Peace! the charm's wound up.
Drum : reminds us of the war. It announces the
arrival of Macbeth, a general, on his way to the
King's castle to be rewarded after his victory upon
the enemy.
They start an incantation to prepare a charm in
order to cast a spell on Macbeth. We don't know
yet what they have in store for him but as they
have just demonstrated how evil they could be, we
can imagine something nasty is on its way.
Enter MACBETH and BANQUO
MACBETH
So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
BANQUO
How far is't call'd to Forres? What are these
So wither'd and so wild in their attire,
That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth,
And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught
That man may question? You seem to understand me,
By each at once her chappy finger laying
Upon her skinny lips: you should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so.
MACBETH
Speak, if you can: what are you?
First Witch
All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Glamis!
Second Witch
All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!
Third Witch
All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!
BANQUO
Good sir, why do you start; and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair?
It echoes "fair is foul and foul is fair" the witches
chanted in the first scene. But here foul because of
the hard battle and fair because they won.
"What are these" "what are you"  the use of the
pronoun what shows that witches are
considered to be things and not people.
Besides Banquo seems to doubt they are
human beings from the earth
They look like women but have a beard 
the traditional representation of the witch
that evil makes look ugly.
This is the prophecy that will change the course of
Macbeth's life.
It can be viewed as the moment that triggers
Macbeth's ambition.
Now, to be able to study and understand this scene correctly, things have to
be placed and considered in their historical context.
(1) As we have already said it, it was written right after James I, the first Stuart king, took up the crown of
England in 1603. James I was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots (cousin to Elizabeth I) and this less-thandirect connection meant that James was eager to assert any legitimacy he could over his right to the
English throne. Coincidentally, Macbeth is the only of Shakespeare's plays set in Scotland, and it
includes a nice little moment where he ties James I's ancestry to the rightful succession.
(2) Witchcraft was a hot topic at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century. James I was
particularly excited about witches—excited about hunting them down, that is—publishing his very
own book about the subject, Daemonolgie, in 1597. People generally believed in witchcraft, and it was
a capital offence to be a witch, because they were considered enemies to society. Coincidentally,
Macbeth begins with the stage directions, "Enter three witches."
(3) In 1605, James was also the target of the Gunpowder Plot, where a group of rebel Catholics tried to
blow up the King and Parliament. (This is where we get Guy Fawkes). Coincidentally, Macbeth shows the
murder of a king and alludes in Act II, scene iii, to the Catholic priest who encouraged Catholics to be
deceptive and treasonous. These allusions would have struck a sensitive chord with the play's audience.
Of course these are no coincidences. Shakespeare was consciously writing a play that would be topical,
touching on the subjects that everyone—from the groundlings to the king himself—would be thinking
about and able to understand. Shakespeare wrote for the stage, this means he had to make things visible,
visual, to support the text. He also had to write so as to be understood both by noblemen who were
educated and by lowly subjects who couldn't either read or write and had no cultural or literary background.
What was theatre like in Shakespeare's time? (rapide rappel)
The fact that the plays were performed in daylight, without curtains, in the round (with audience surrounding
the stage) needs to be considered when visualizing how scenes would have looked and been linked to
each other.
Try to picture this scene given what you know about the plot, themes, character, language, literary
devices, and Shakespeare's theater.
What props might Shakespeare have used?
What costumes might have been worn by the witches? Why?(they had to correspond to the popular
belief)
What about Macbeth and Banquo? (obviously in their coat of armour)
Since there were no microphones, how would the actors have spoken their lines?
Who was on stage? Men only  The fact that male actors played all the roles might have influenced the
actors' portrayal of Lady Macbeth and the witches. This gives a different meaning to Banquo's line " you
should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so.  comical relief to the heavy
and threatening atmosphere: an Elizabethan audience must have laughed their heads off with this line.
Homework for next Monday :
1- Oral Interpretation and Visual Interpretations — will help you better understand the motivations and attitudes of the
various characters. Practice reading the scene (with each character part attributed to different students) Then, sketch the
action. Your performance will be evaluated.
Foreshadowing—
Questions à se poser:
(a) The play opens with thunder and lightning as three witches enter. What does this tell about the mood
of the play? Is this play going to be a tragedy or a comedy? Three witches enter and of course there is
thunder, a black stormy sky which suggests something dark is going to take place. It’s something visual and
a code that anybody can understand.
(b) Remember what the witches say, "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" (I,i)? What does this tell you about
what is likely to go on during the play?
(c) If you were going to stage this scene, what would your set look like?
With Shakespeare’s work, there are always several levels of interpretation. (fair and
foul) We’ve already explained this yet, on second thought, we understand the witches set the tone in Act I,
scene 1 with a storm and predictions that Macbeth's life will become so confused he will find it difficult to
differentiate between right and wrong, and their later predictions foreshadow a downfall the audience is
aware of long before Macbeth is willing to accept their implications. Shakespeare's audience enjoyed being
informed of events before the characters were aware of the implications. The example of Macbeth's lack of
awareness of his new title, Thane of Cawdor, is a good illustration.
Notes de Cours :
Dramatic Irony :
In Sh's time, the audience enjoyed being informed of events before the characters themeselves were aware
of them and their implication. (best example, in act 1, after the battle, King Duncan discovers his former
friend, Thane of Cawdor, has betrayed him, therefore he announces he will reward Macbeth with this title
for his bravery during the battle. When MacBeth meets the witches, he is not yet aware of this whereas the
audience knows it)
Hallucinations as supernatural signs of the Macbeths' guilt.
Think of passages in the play where what Macbeth sees could be hallucinations.
In every case, it is ambiguous whether the vision is real or purely hallucinatory.
Visions and hallucinations recur throughout the play and serve as reminders of Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth’s joint culpability. When he is about to kill Duncan, Macbeth sees a dagger floating in the
air. Covered with blood and pointed toward the king’s chamber, the dagger represents the bloody
course on which Macbeth is about to embark.
Later, he sees Banquo’s ghost sitting in a chair at a feast, pricking his conscience by mutely
reminding him that he murdered his former friend.
The seemingly hardheaded Lady Macbeth also eventually gives way to visions, as she sleepwalks
and believes that her hands are stained with blood that cannot be washed away by any amount of
water.
The Supernatural
The supernatural and witchcraft in particular are also thematically important. Certainly they are a major
contributory factor to the play's enduring popularity. The presence of the supernatural in the play
raises all sorts of questions concerning reality and appearances.
Shakespeare's dramatic genius is especially to be noted in the art with which he manages his beginnings.
The first scene strikes the keynote of the play. The desert place, the wild storm, the appearance of the
witches, "the wayward rhythm" of their songs, all help to prepare us for a drama in which a human soul
succumbs to the supernatural suggestions of evil and ranges itself along with the witches on the devil's
side.
We hear of a battle that is even now being fought, we hear of the witches' bad deeds and last of all we
hear the name of the man they are planning to meet. The action of the scene is over with the naming
of the man against whose soul these ministers of darkness are plotting.
The dialogue of the witches is a sort of chant. It is thrown into a verse form, trochaic
tetrameter
DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da
which Shakespeare rarely uses except for supernatural beings, witches, fairies, or the like.
Did Shakespeare believe in witches and their evil powers?  This is left for you to decide…
2 points are Vital. The first is to realize that in Shakespeare's time witchcraft was a substantial issue: as
we have said it before. Thus, the witches are real, any other assertion does not match Shakespeare's
conception. Secondly, the supernatural is present in the play but not only as an embodiment of evil.
True, it is the witches we remember and their prophecies, because they are so dramatic. This supernatural
intensifies our sense of evil, surely, but it does not dictate events. Macbeth is a free agent and has
free will. There will be no tragedy at all without the realization that Macbeth has chosen his course of
action, and each subsequent action is a reaffirmation of that original, and bad, choice. Macbeth is not the
victim of supernatural forces. He is the victim of the evil that lies in his heart. The actions of the
witches simply set Macbeth on his path. One consequence of this acknowledgement is that on the one
hand, the supernatural is less important , perhaps than its dramatic impact portends.
As for the witches, we can raise the question whether they are human at all, and if so whether they
can be considered, therefore, to have characters. There can be no definitive answer. They have an
ambiguous status: hovering between character and symbol and they force us to observe the play's
action from a symbolic viewpoint which is as important as the actual details of their interventions.
Suffice to say, they embody a malign and demonic intelligence. Their information does tempt
Macbeth- but it must be remembered they do not invite him to murder Duncan or even suggest such
a thing. Information is morally neutral until human beings begin to interpret it. Thus if they
symbolize evil, man is free to resist them. Macbeth is tragic partly because he comes to depend
upon their information which set loose the demons of his own ambition. Finally, their attachment to
Macbeth may not be malevolent. Hadn't he killed Duncan, he might nonetheless have become king
after Duncan's death. At the time, a king's son was not compulsorily his heir and as Macbeth was
the king's cousin, his courage and victories on the battle field could have won him the crown.
To appreciate their role in the play, we can consider them from contrasting points of view, each of
which may contribute to our reaction without negating the others.
-True sorceresses: Renaissance England believed in the reality of women who had made a pact with the
devil in exchange of powers to help or hurt those around them. Shakespeare's witches demonstrate several
aspects of popular belief concerning practitioners of black magic.
-
Mentions of a cat, a toad and one talks to a spirit (a demon?)
They cast a spell on Macbeth and broil potions in a cauldron
They can make people sick or crazy
They can predict the future and suddenly vanish in the air.
-The witches are Fates (les Parques) alluded as "the weird sisters" they could be the Fates, in
mythology, a trio of goddesses who decide men's destinies. In this case, they would not be the
servants but the mistresses of supernatural powers. They are the writers of Macbeth's life-story.
(some productions of the play suggest this by having them constantly reappear in the background of
critical scenes)
-The witches are Figments of Macbeth's imagination. This interpretation of the witches is tied to the way
we understand Macbeth's hallucinations (the dagger, the ghost of Banquo) A "psychological" view of the
protagonist's torment would suggest that he is in fact persecuted by manifestations of his guilty
conscience. But if they are not real, perhaps the witches are not either. The hallucinations and the
witches' apparitions seem to emanate from the same source. Bu, of course, Banquo also sees them….
-The witches are women whether they are magical or not, they are part of the play's male-female
opposition. On one level, they are in a league with Lady Macbeth, participating in the conspiracy of
women to control Macbeth. Or they may be seen as poor deluded old hags at war with society.