Macbeth: Act 1, scene 1 Summary & Analysis

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LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Macbeth, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.

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Nature and the Unnatural

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As a storm rages, three witches appear, speaking in rhyming, paradoxical couplets: "when the battle's lost and won" (1.1.4); "fair is foul, and foul is fair" (1.1.10). They agree to meet again on the heath (plain) when the battle now raging ends. There they'll meet Macbeth .

The witches' rhyming speech makes them seem inhuman, ominous, and paranormal, which, in fact, they are.

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Literary Devices Act 1, scene 2 Act 1, scene 2 Cite This Page Download this Chart (PDF)

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