Plot Summary
Act I, Scene I of Macbeth opens on a desolate heath amid thunder and lightning. Three Witches appear and speak briefly to one another. The First Witch asks when they shall meet again—“In thunder, lightning, or in rain?” The Second Witch answers that they will reconvene “When the hurlyburly’s done, / When the battle’s lost and won,” and the Third Witch adds this will happen “ere the set of sun.” They agree to meet upon the heath, where they plan to encounter Macbeth. The First Witch hears the cry of her familiar spirit, a gray cat called Graymalkin, while the other Witches acknowledge a toad named Paddock. Together they chant the scene’s most famous lines—“Fair is foul, and foul is fair. / Hover through the fog and filthy air”—before vanishing.
Character Development
Though no named human characters appear in this scene, the Three Witches (also called the Weird Sisters) are immediately established as otherworldly figures of great dramatic importance. Their speech is riddling and prophetic, setting them apart from every other character in the play. By naming Macbeth before he ever appears onstage, Shakespeare signals that he has already been singled out by supernatural forces. The Witches’ familiars—Graymalkin the cat and Paddock the toad—reinforce the Jacobean association between witchcraft and demonic animal companions, deepening the audience’s sense that these beings operate outside the natural order.
Themes and Motifs
The scene’s central theme is the inversion of moral order. “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” announces the play’s governing paradox: appearances will deceive, virtue will mask corruption, and evil will wear the face of good. The motif of stormy weather—thunder, lightning, fog, and “filthy air”—mirrors the political and moral turbulence that will engulf Scotland. The phrase “When the battle’s lost and won” introduces the motif of equivocation, suggesting that every victory in the play carries the seed of defeat.
Literary Devices
Shakespeare employs trochaic tetrameter rather than the iambic pentameter used by noble characters, giving the Witches’ speech a chant-like, incantatory rhythm. Paradox pervades their language: battles are simultaneously lost and won; fair and foul are interchangeable. Pathetic fallacy links the storm to the disorder the Witches represent. Foreshadowing operates on multiple levels—the plan to meet Macbeth hints at the temptation to come, while the fog and filth anticipate the moral blindness that will consume him. Finally, the Witches’ references to their animal familiars serve as metonymy for the demonic powers that stand behind them.