Macbeth 1.1-1.3

It begins ... As we watch a few variations on the opening scene, please consider the following:

1. How do the witches enter?
2. How do they move?
3. Are they young? old? male? female? unsure?
4. How are the witches different from each other? similar to each other?
5. How do they speak?
6. How are they dressed?

Big Question -- what tone is set from this opening scene? What themes are presented?

Roman Polanski (1971)

Hartford Stage (2013)

Orson Welles (1948)

PBS (2010)

Discussion (as time permits)

1. In what ways do the actual words of the witches in the first scene help to create the feeling of a nightmare world of evil and confusion? What particularly is the effect of the antithesis and paradox in the last lines?
2. What impressions of Macbeth's character are created, before his actual appearance in the play, by the details of the battle accounts of the sergeant and Ross in Scene 2?
3. What do Banquo's remarks about "the instruments of darkness" tell the reader about his character at this point? (1.3.23) Relate Banquo's ideas to the thoughts included in Macbeth's soliloquy. 
4. The most significant insight about Macbeth's secret thoughts comes in the soliloquy (first of seven), "This supernatural soliciting ..." (1.3.129-141).
1. What is the suggestion "whose horrid image doth unfix my hair"?
2. What moral conflict appears to exist in Macbeth's mind? Reference and explain the lines in which this conflict is expressed.
3. What conclusions about Macbeth's character can you draw from this soliloquy?
4. Why does the thought of killing Duncan so strongly affect a man (Macbeth) who has killed so many others on the battlefield?