macbeth

Act 1, Scene 3: Now that the witches' prophecy has been realized, they reconvene at the predetermined heath. The first witch explains to the others why she was late in coming. Angered at the impudence of a sailor's wife in not giving her chestnuts, the first witch vows to seek revenge on the sailor, making him a sleepless, cursed man. It is important to note here that the witch (and thus Shakespeare and the audience) associates sleeplessness with an evil or cursed life. Macbeth, after killing King Duncan, can hardly sleep because of his ghastly nightmares. While the witches are talking, Macbeth and Banquo enter the area. Macbeth proclaims that he has never seen a day "so fair and foul." (Act 1, Scene 3, Line 38) This is reminiscent of the weird sisters' statement in Act 1, Scene 1 that "fair is foul and foul is fair." This is a prominent theme in the play, as it beautifully expresses the macabre state of affairs within Macbeth and without. Banquo, after seeing the witches, becomes horrified by their hideous appearances.
Macbeth, however, ignores the physical aspects of the sorceresses and asks them to speak. Each witch addresses him in a different manner-one as the Thane of Glamis, the second as the Thane of Cawdor and the third as "that shalt be king hereafter." (Act 1, Scene 3, Line 50) After hearing these strange prophecies, Macbeth remains in a sort of ecstatic stupor while Banquo asks the witches to look into his future. The weird sisters say that while Banquo himself will not be as happy or lucky as Macbeth will, he will be much more fortunate in the long run. Also, they tell him that he will beget a line of kings even though he will never be a monarch himself. Awakened from his stupor, Macbeth asks the witches how it can be possible that he will be the Thane of Cawdor, when to his knowledge, the nobleman still lives. He also asks them from whence they get their knowledge of the future. Suddenly, the weird sisters disappear into thin air, much