‘A doubtful and dangerous world’.

By exploring at least two moments from the

opening scenes of the play, evaluate how far and in what ways you agree with this
statement.

The opening scenes of Macbeth portray a world in which danger and uncertainty are bountiful.
Shakespeare opens the play with the striking image of the three witches, a particularly frightening
prospect for viewers at the time thanks to James I’s book, ‘Demonology’, which is immediately
unsettling for the reader. There is also doubt surrounding the witches, with uncertainties about their
gender and their predictions of the future being particularly notable, when they meet Macbeth and
Banquo, along with the fact that they seem to speak mysteriously and without explanation.
However, there are also other points in these opening scenes which suggest more certainty and
security, and in which the world of Macbeth doesn’t seem so far away after all, such as the Captain,
Ross and Angus all doing their duty and not apparently involved in any betrayal or deceit. These
examples could suggest that the world is less doubtful than at first glance.

A notable instance of Shakespeare portraying the world as dangerous and doubtful is in the opening
scene. The very first stage direction in the play is ‘Thunder and lightning.’ This immediately sets out a
foreboding tone, and the witches are constantly associated with this. Two instances of this are the
first witch saying, ‘In thunder, lightning, or in rain?’, and the next time they are introduced, there is a
stage direction of ‘Thunder’ again. This weather effect would have been very effective on stage to
darken the mood and opening the play with this is extremely unexpected. Doubt is also introduced
as a central subject in the first line of the play, with a question: ‘When…?’. Not only does a question
induce doubt, but the specific use of ‘When’ generally sets the scene for time being more important
than place in the play. Another way that the witches are unsettling is the way that they speak. The
metre of this section is trochaic tetrameter, and there are many rhyming couplets. This gives the
feeling of a chant or a curse and confirms the idea that the witches are evil. This obviously sets a
sense of danger. This sense of the witches being evil is emphasised by the line ‘Fair is foul, and foul is
fair’. This line uses alliteration, chiasmus and is chanted in unison to really emphasise that everything
humans find ‘fair’, or good, the witches find ‘foul’, and vice versa. This immediately shows that the
witches are very different to normal humans, and probably not human at all. The alliteration is also
followed through into the next and final line of the scene, with ‘fog’ and ‘filthy’, to again emphasise
the witches’ benevolence.

A second instance where the danger and doubt of the world of Macbeth are shown is when Macbeth
and Banquo meet the three witches. Their entrance begins with Macbeth saying, ‘So foul and fair a
day’. This is important, but eerie, as Macbeth echoes the witches’ earlier chant. This creates doubt in
the viewer’s mind about this seeming coincidence. Then when Banquo sees the witches, doubt
immediately shrouds them. Firstly, they are apparently androgynous, as Banquo says that they
‘should be women’, but they have ‘beards’. Macbeth also says, ‘what are you?’, and Banquo uses
alliteration to emphasise their oddities with ‘withered and wild’. These quotes confirm that the
witches are neither male nor female, and apparently not human. This clearly creates huge doubt and
mystery around the role of the witches in the play. The witches are also mysterious in the way that
they speak. One example is when they say that Banquo will be ‘Lesser… and greater.’ This is almost
paradoxical, with two opposite words juxtaposed, again creating mystery and doubt. One final
instance of doubt in this section is when Macbeth is pondering whether to believe the witches or
not. He asks many questions, such as ‘But how of Cawdor?’. The lead character of the play being so
doubtful at such an early stage implies that this world must be full of treachery and betrayal.

Indeed, the prominence of treachery and betrayal in these early scenes is foreshadowing for all of
the conspiracies and overthrows later in the play. Contemporary viewers would have been very
aware of conspiracies to overthrow monarchs, and the introduction of this theme early on would
have been very frightening and mysterious. Lies and treachery are introduced firstly with the Thane
of Cawdor (and Macdonald) being a ‘traitor’, and Macbeth continues in this vein when he lies about
thinking about ‘dull’ things instead of becoming king. However, the presence of apparently
trustworthy figures such as the Captain, Malcolm and Banquo could suggest that there is perhaps
less danger and treachery than suggested by the evil of the witches.

Fin Brickman U4Z