List of characters

Three Witches vow to meet Macbeth after the battle. They respond to the calls of their familiar spirits. They leave, chanting ominous words. In Scene 2 Duncan hopes for a battle-report from a wounded Captain.

1 Menace and mystery (in groups of three or more)

The best thing to do with Scene 1 is to act it out. It doesn’t take long to learn the lines. Present it as dramatically as you can, using sound effects of thunder, rain, battle sounds, a mewing cat and croaking toad (see 2 below). Think about how you can create a menacing and mysterious mood, especially in the final two lines, which ominously reverse values of goodness and beauty. Notice that line 12 reads the same backwards and forwards: ‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair’. Use some of the following to help your preparation:

• How do the Witches enter and move?
• Are they old or young? Male or female? (In Shakespeare’s time they were played by males.)
• How is each Witch different from the others?
• How are they dressed? What are they carrying? (Have they been scavenging on the battlefield?)
• What actions do they perform as they speak?

After your performance, write notes to guide others how to act out Scene 1.

2 Familiars: Graymalkin and Paddock (in pairs)

Witches were believed to have familiar spirits (‘familiars’): demons who helped with their evil work. They usually took the form of animals or birds. In Scene 1 two Witches respond to the cries of their familiars: ‘Graymalkin’ (a grey cat) and ‘Paddock’ (a toad). But the Third Witch does not name her familiar; she says only that she’ll come at once (‘Anon’). Talk together about what creature the Third Witch’s familiar might be. Invent a name for it and incorporate the sound it makes into your performance (see 1 above).

Macbeth

Act 1 Scene 1

A desolate place

   Thunder and lightning. Enter three WITCHES

FIRST WITCH When shall we three meet again?

   In thunder, lightning, or in rain?

SECOND WITCH When the hurly-burly’s done,

   When the battle’s lost, and won.

THIRD WITCH That will be ere the set of sun.           5

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.                  10

THIRD WITCH Anon.

ALL Fair is foul, and foul is fair,

   Hover through the fog and filthy air.

                          Exeunt

Act 1 Scene 2

King Duncan’s camp near Forres

Alarum within. Enter King [DUNCAN,] MALCOLM, DONALD-BAIN, LENNOX, with Attendants, meeting a bleeding CAPTAIN

DUNCAN What bloody man is that? He can report, As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt The newest state.

MALCOLM This is the sergeant Who like a good and hardy soldier fought ’Gainst my captivity. Hail, brave friend;

The wounded Captain reports that although the rebel Macdonald had strong forces, Macbeth personally killed him. Facing an assault by fresh Norwegian troops, Macbeth and Banquo fought on undaunted.

1 The Captain’s story (in groups of four or more)

The Captain’s report (lines 7–42) is action-packed. Phrase by phrase, he creates a vivid picture of the battle. One person reads slowly, a small section at a time, pausing after each short phrase. The others mime the action described. For example, the first few sections might be:

   ‘Doubtful it stood’ (mime doubt)

   ‘As two spent swimmers’ (mime exhaustion)

   ‘that do cling together / And choke their art’ (mime drowning)

   ‘The merciless Macdonald’ (mime pitiless warrior), and so on.

You will find that this activity helps you to understand how such short units of language pack the Captain’s tale with energy and meaning.

2 Words to create atmosphere (in pairs)

One partner reads aloud lines 1–44. The other partner echoes every word to do with war, fighting or armies. Change over and repeat the activity. How many such ‘warfare’ words can you find? (It will help you to know that ‘kerns and galloglasses’ are lightly and heavily armed soldiers respectively.) Afterwards, talk together about how Shakespeare creates atmosphere through the vocabulary he uses.

3 The wounded Captain writes home

Imagine you are the wounded Captain. You have had your wounds dressed and now you write home to tell your family what has happened. Base your letter on lines 1–42.

Ross tells that Macbeth has triumphed, capturing Cawdor and obtaining ransom and a favourable peace treaty from the King of Norway. Duncan sentences Cawdor to death and confers his title on Macbeth.

1 What is Macbeth like? (in pairs)

In a play, the audience gains its impression of a character from what the character says, what they do, and what other characters say about them. Macbeth has not yet appeared, but in Scene 2 he has been much talked about. From your reading of the scene, pool your thoughts and write down a list of qualities you think Macbeth possesses. As you work through the play add other qualities to your list.

2 Give Angus a voice (in groups of three)

Angus enters but says nothing. Give him the chance to add his own perspective on the story Ross tells. One person reads Duncan, another reads Ross (lines 47–67). Ross pauses after every punctuation mark. In each pause the third person, as Angus, adds their own retelling of Ross’s report, explaining each part of it to the king (who might well ask for additional information). For example, after Ross’s ‘God save the king’, Angus might say ‘Greetings, your majesty. We salute you’; after ‘From Fife’, he might add ‘In greatest haste’, and so on.

3 Show the image (in small groups)

Scene 2 is rich in imagery. Choose one image that particularly appeals to you, for example ‘As two spent swimmers’, ‘multiplying villainies of nature’, ‘like a rebel’s whore’, ‘as sparrows, eagles’, ‘another Golgotha’. Prepare a tableau (a ‘human sculpture’, like a still photograph) of your chosen image. Show your frozen moment to the class, holding still for about thirty seconds. The other groups in the class guess which image you have chosen.

   Afterwards, talk together about which you think is the ‘easiest’ image to portray, and which is the most difficult. Why?

The Witches await Macbeth. They plot to torment a sea-captain whose wife has insulted them. A drum signals the approach of Macbeth.

1 Speak the Witches’ language! (in groups of three)

The Witches have a style of speaking all of their own. To gain the feel of their language, take parts and read aloud all they say between lines 1 and 67 (ignore what Macbeth and Banquo say). As you read, add actions that you feel are suitable. After your reading, talk together about the way the Witches speak, and why you think Shakespeare gives them that particular style of speech. How many words can you find to describe it? (A hint: don’t be afraid to use a thesaurus to find appropriate words.)

2 The master of the Tiger

a In 1606 (the year in which Macbeth was probably written) an English ship called the Tiger did in fact limp home after a disaster-struck voyage of 567 days (7 × 9 × 9, see line 21). Imagine you are the ship-captain and write an account of your perilous sea journey. Use your imagination, just as Shakespeare did. He was more concerned with the dramatic and imaginative possibilities of the stories he heard and read than with their factual accuracy (the storm-battered Tiger actually sailed to Japan, and Aleppo is sixty miles inland from the Mediterranean coast).

b The Witch’s story seems to have little to do with the play. Or does it? Suggest one or two possible reasons why Shakespeare wrote lines 1–27.

3 ‘Aroint thee, witch’

Line 5 is the only time in the play when the word ‘witch’ is used. See pages vi, 10, 131 and 178 for examples of how the three weird sisters do not have to appear as conventional witches.

Act 1 Scene 3

A heath

The Witches chant a spell to prepare for their meeting with Macbeth. They amaze him with predictions that he will be Thane of Cawdor and King of Scotland. Banquo demands to know his own future.

Speak if you can’, Macbeth demands. Speak the Witches’ predictions in lines 46–8 as you think they would deliver them (think about tone of voice, gesture and movement).

1 ‘So foul and fair a day’ (in pairs)

Macbeth’s first words echo the Witches’ last lines in Act 1 Scene 1. Talk together about whether you think they suggest that conflict and insecurity exist in his mind, even though he has just won a great battle.