Scene I of Macbeth is used by Shakespeare to introduce the concept of tragedy and to set the tone for the rest of the play.
The first thing that is the audience is drawn to is the thunder and lightning presented in the opening stage directions to the play, presenting inclement and ominous weather alongside the appearance of the witches, the instruments of darkness. The audience will already be aware of the significance of this use of the thunder and lightning as Elizabethan audiences often attributes violent weather with supernatural forces, which are embodied by the Three Witches here. This created a great sense of fear in Shakespearean audiences, as they were very superstitious and afraid of the supernatural.
Right at the start of the scene we are made aware that we will see the witches once more, with the first witch asking her companions ‘when [they] shall...meet again/ in thunder, lightning or in rain’, again emphasising the role of the weather in presenting them as ominous and sinister characters, perhaps also suggesting that they have powers to control the weather, as is seen later on in the play. This weather is symbolic of the chaos that the witches will bring into Macbeth’s life, as it is they who set him on the inevitable path that leads to his demise by planting the seed of greed in his mind, as well as preparing us for the crimes that Macbeth commits later on in the play. However the first witches’ limiting choice of weather conditions in which they are to meet could also signify the lack of freedom that Macbeth has over his own life, as all his actions are pre-determined by the witches’ prophecy, highlighting the hopelessness and sense of tragedy in the play.
In response to the witches’ question, the second witch responds that the next meeting will take place ‘when the hurly burly’s done/ when the battle’s lost and won’, accentuating the motif of conflict and violence in the play that is then developed through Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s characters. It also introduces us to the action that happens alongside the witches' story – Macbeth on the battlefield from which he will come to meet the witches; again, the fact that the witches are so confident on their information creates the lack of choice Macbeth has over his life. The witches also accentuate the motif different perspectives and opinions in the play, as they regard the battle as ‘lost and won’, as one side will win and one will not, perhaps preparing us for the final battle between Macduff and Macbeth.
They then proceed to finish off each-other’s sentences and speak in an eerie nursery rhyme and are the only characters to speak in rhyming couplets. Shakespeare by doing this is creating a sense of solidarity between the witches, making them impossible to separate from each other, though as a whole they are very clearly distinct from the other characters in the play. Their unique speech in rhyming couplets set them apart from all the other characters, as all of them speak either in prose or iambic pentameter. The witches fit neither of these forms, thus accentuating their distinctiveness and highlighting the eerie nature of their plans, further setting the tone to the play. These eerie rhyming couplets attributed to them by Shakespeare is perhaps hinting at the idea that the Witches are seeming to toy with Macbeth’s fate, presenting them as creatures with no empathy and a thirst for destruction and malice with no concern for the consequences of other people.
The third witch then introduces the protagonist in saying that they will meet him upon the heath, signalling him out as their target for their evil intentions, further creating a sinister tone and foreboding to the play. The scene then ends with the three witches unanimously chanting ‘fair is foul and foul is fair/ hover through the fog and misty air’. Not only does this once more affirm the significant of setting previously explored in the scene, but introduces the motif of contradiction into the play which is then further developed through the roles that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth hold in their marriage. It reminds Elizabethan audiences not to trust what they see at first sight, and the power of witches to influence people/events, foreshadowing Macbeth’s fall from a respectable man to a traitor and king slayer, as they toy with his fate. This connection to Macbeth is cemented with his first lines: ‘so foul and fair a day I have not seen’.
The witches leave with the mention of ‘hovering through the...air’ reminding the audience that they are not of the physical world and may indeed be incorporeal spirits. Not only do they hover physically, but their eeriness presides over the entire play, reminding the audience of their imminent threat.
The witches could be seen to be based around the Three Fates found in Greek mythology, who were seen as incarnations of destiny and life. They each played a part in processing the thread of life; one was responsible for spinning it, one was responsible for measuring out how long a person was to live and the third cut the thread, ending the person’s life. These Greek roots heighten the impact of the opening scene, as it accentuates the extent of the witches’ power and literal influence over the characters’ life and death.