2.1.2

Scene 3

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Act 1, Scene 3

Here's a summary of what happens in Act 1, Scene 3:

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Witches reappear

  • This scene begins with thunder again as the witches return to the stage.
  • The first witch tells a story about how a sailor's wife refused to give her chestnuts. She plans to torture her husband. This shows the powers that the witches have and how wicked they are.
  • They cast a charm when they hear Macbeth and Banquo coming.
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The witches' three prophecies

  • The witches greet Macbeth:
    • The first witch calls him ‘Thane of Glamis’, which he is.
    • The second calls him ‘Thane of Cawdor’, which the audience knows is true, but which hasn't been revealed to Macbeth (first prophecy).
    • The third says he will be king (second prophecy): ‘All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter.’
  • Banquo is told that even though he is ‘lesser’ – lower in status than Macbeth – he will be ‘greater’, because he ‘shalt get kings’ (third prophecy). This means that his children will be kings.
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Macbeth learns he is Thane of Cawdor

  • Macbeth orders the witches to explain, but they vanish. This shows the audience that Macbeth cannot control them.
    • Does this moment represent that Macbeth also has no power and control over his own fate?
  • Ross and Angus arrive. Ross tells Macbeth that he has been given the title, Thane of Cawdor.
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Macbeth's aside

  • Macbeth has a private debate with himself.
  • He is torn. On the one hand, what the witches have said is good because he is now Thane of Cawdor. But he is afraid that something would have to happen to King Duncan for him to become king.
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Macbeth's decision

  • He decides that, if fate has decided he will be king, he can become king without doing anything: ‘If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me / Without my stir.’
  • Macbeth decides he will ride to see the king.

Key Quotes - Act 1, Scene 3

Here are key quotes from Macbeth and Banquo in Act 1, Scene 3:

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Macbeth

  • ‘So foul and fair a day I have not seen’
    • Macbeth enters the stage for the first time in this scene. This is his first line of the play.
    • This is important because it shows he knows about the trouble in nature. Things are mixed up and strange.
    • This foreshadows (indicates something in the future) the conflict that will soon happen.
  • This could also show how Macbeth’s personality and feelings are mixed, and that the play will show his true nature.
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Banquo

  • ‘What, can the devil speak true?’
    • This suggests that he knows that supernatural things (e.g. the witches) are evil, and so is surprised that such evil forces are able to tell the truth.
    • Before this moment, he had almost dismissed their claims as lies.
    • This revelation (that one of their prophecies was true) opens possibilities to Macbeth – he starts to consider their claim that he actually could be the king one day.
    • Is this moment the start of his downfall?
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Macbeth

  • ‘Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor: / The greatest is behind’.
    • Macbeth speaks to himself (and the audience).
    • His use of ‘greatest’ shows that the thing he places the most value on (the possibility of being king) is still yet to come – his path to it is behind closed doors and not yet revealed, but he feels that it could actually become a reality.
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Banquo

  • ‘Oftentimes, to win us to our harm, / The instruments of darkness tell us truths’.
    • Macbeth speaks to Banquo and asks him whether he now hopes that his children might become kings. Banquo seems to be cautious.
    • The metaphor here suggests that he thinks the witches might be evil, and that they might be using their ability to see the future to hurt Macbeth and Banquo.
    • He is less willing to believe their prophecies, viewing them as evil creatures with dark intentions.
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Macbeth

  • ‘Doth unfix my hair / And make my seated heart knock at my ribs / Against the use of nature’.
    • Macbeth says this in an aside (a conversation to himself).
    • Macbeth feels afraid because something would have to happen to King Duncan for him to become king. He might even have to harm King Duncan.
    • At this point in the play, he does not want to harm King Duncan, as he recognises the Divine Right of Kings, knowing that King Duncan was chosen by God to rule Scotland.
    • He also feels a sense of loyalty to his friend.

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