ACT I - Scene III Macbeth

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

A heath. Thunder.

Enter the three Witches.

FIRST WITCH
Where hast thou been, sister?

SECOND WITCH
Killing swine.

THIRD WITCH
Sister, where thou?

FIRST WITCH
A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap,
And mounch'd, and mounch'd, and mounch'd. "Give me," quoth I.
"Aroint thee, witch!" the rump-fed ronyon cries.
Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger;
But in a sieve I'll thither sail,
And, like a rat without a tail,
I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.

SECOND WITCH
I'll give thee a wind.

FIRST WITCH
Thou'rt kind.

THIRD WITCH
And I another.

FIRST WITCH
I myself have all the other,
And the very ports they blow,
All the quarters that they know
I' the shipman's card.
I will drain him dry as hay:
Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his penthouse lid;
He shall live a man forbid.
Weary se'nnights nine times nine
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine;
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-toss'd.
Look what I have.

SECOND WITCH
Show me, show me.

FIRST WITCH
Here I have a pilot's thumb,
Wreck'd as homeward he did come.

Drum within.

THIRD WITCH
A drum, a drum!
Macbeth doth come.

ALL
The weird sisters, hand in hand,
Posters of the sea and land,
Thus do go about, about,
Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,
And thrice again, to make up nine.
Peace! The charm's wound up.

Enter Macbeth and Banquo.

MACBETH
So foul and fair a day I have not seen.

BANQUO
How far is't call'd to Forres? What are these
So wither'd and so wild in their attire,
That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth,
And yet are on't? Live you? or are you aught
That man may question? You seem to understand me,
By each at once her choppy finger laying
Upon her skinny lips. You should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so.

MACBETH
Speak, if you can. What are you?

FIRST WITCH
All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!

SECOND WITCH
All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!

THIRD WITCH
All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!

BANQUO
Good sir, why do you start, and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair? I' the name of truth,
Are ye fantastical or that indeed
Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner
You greet with present grace and great prediction
Of noble having and of royal hope,
That he seems rapt withal. To me you speak not.
If you can look into the seeds of time,
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favors nor your hate.

FIRST WITCH
Hail!

SECOND WITCH
Hail!

THIRD WITCH
Hail!

FIRST WITCH
Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.

SECOND WITCH
Not so happy, yet much happier.

THIRD WITCH
Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!

FIRST WITCH
Banquo and Macbeth, all hail!

MACBETH
Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more.
By Sinel's death I know I am Thane of Glamis;
But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives,
A prosperous gentleman; and to be King
Stands not within the prospect of belief,
No more than to be Cawdor. Say from whence
You owe this strange intelligence, or why
Upon this blasted heath you stop our way
With such prophetic greeting? Speak, I charge you.

Witches vanish.

BANQUO
The earth hath bubbles as the water has,
And these are of them. Whither are they vanish'd?

MACBETH
Into the air, and what seem'd corporal melted
As breath into the wind. Would they had stay'd!

BANQUO
Were such things here as we do speak about?
Or have we eaten on the insane root
That takes the reason prisoner?

MACBETH
Your children shall be kings.

BANQUO
You shall be King.

MACBETH
And Thane of Cawdor too. Went it not so?

BANQUO
To the selfsame tune and words. Who's here?

Enter Ross and Angus.

ROSS
The King hath happily received, Macbeth,
The news of thy success; and when he reads
Thy personal venture in the rebels' fight,
His wonders and his praises do contend
Which should be thine or his. Silenced with that,
In viewing o'er the rest o' the selfsame day,
He finds thee in the stout Norweyan ranks,
Nothing afeard of what thyself didst make,
Strange images of death. As thick as hail
Came post with post, and every one did bear
Thy praises in his kingdom's great defense,
And pour'd them down before him.

ANGUS
We are sent
To give thee, from our royal master, thanks;
Only to herald thee into his sight,
Not pay thee.

ROSS
And for an earnest of a greater honor,
He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor.
In which addition, hail, most worthy Thane,
For it is thine.

BANQUO
What, can the devil speak true?

MACBETH
The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me
In borrow'd robes?

ANGUS
Who was the Thane lives yet,
But under heavy judgement bears that life
Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combined
With those of Norway, or did line the rebel
With hidden help and vantage, or that with both
He labor'd in his country's wreck, I know not;
But treasons capital, confess'd and proved,
Have overthrown him.

MACBETH
[Aside.] Glamis, and Thane of Cawdor!
The greatest is behind. [To Ross and Angus] Thanks for your
pains.
[Aside to Banquo] Do you not hope your children shall be kings,
When those that gave the Thane of Cawdor to me
Promised no less to them?

BANQUO
[Aside to Macbeth.] That, trusted home,
Might yet enkindle you unto the crown,
Besides the Thane of Cawdor. But 'tis strange;
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray's
In deepest consequence-
Cousins, a word, I pray you.

MACBETH
[Aside.] Two truths are told,
As happy prologues to the swelling act
Of the imperial theme-I thank you, gentlemen.
[Aside.] This supernatural soliciting
Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill,
Why hath it given me earnest of success,
Commencing in a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor.
If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair
And make my seated heart knock at my ribs,
Against the use of nature? Present fears
Are less than horrible imaginings:
My thought, whose murther yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man that function
Is smother'd in surmise, and nothing is
But what is not.

BANQUO
Look, how our partner's rapt.

MACBETH
[Aside.] If chance will have me King, why, chance may
crown me
Without my stir.

BANQUO
New honors come upon him,
Like our strange garments, cleave not to their mould
But with the aid of use.

MACBETH
[Aside.] Come what come may,
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.

BANQUO
Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.

MACBETH
Give me your favor; my dull brain was wrought
With things forgotten. Kind gentlemen, your pains
Are register'd where every day I turn
The leaf to read them. Let us toward the King.
Think upon what hath chanced, and at more time,
The interim having weigh'd it, let us speak
Our free hearts each to other.

BANQUO
Very gladly.

MACBETH
Till then, enough. Come, friends.

Exeunt.

Frequently Asked Questions about ACT I - Scene III from Macbeth

What happens in Act 1, Scene 3 of Macbeth?

In Act 1, Scene 3 of Macbeth, the three witches meet Macbeth and Banquo on a heath and deliver their famous prophecies. They hail Macbeth as Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and future King of Scotland. They tell Banquo he will be "lesser than Macbeth, and greater" and that his descendants will be kings. Shortly after the witches vanish, Ross and Angus arrive with news that King Duncan has granted Macbeth the title Thane of Cawdor, immediately confirming part of the prophecy. Macbeth then delivers his first aside about murder, revealing that the idea of killing Duncan has already entered his mind.

What are the three witches's prophecies for Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 3?

The three witches deliver a triple prophecy to Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 3. The First Witch hails him as Thane of Glamis, which is already his current title. The Second Witch hails him as Thane of Cawdor, a title he does not yet know he has been granted. The Third Witch hails him as the future King of Scotland with the words "All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!" The prophecies are significant because the first is already true, the second is confirmed within minutes by Ross's arrival, and the third plants the seed of ambition that drives the rest of the tragedy.

What do the witches predict for Banquo in Act 1, Scene 3?

When Banquo asks the witches to speak to him as well, they respond with a series of paradoxes. The First Witch says he will be "Lesser than Macbeth, and greater." The Second Witch says he will be "Not so happy, yet much happier." The Third Witch delivers the key prophecy: "Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none," meaning Banquo's descendants will sit on the throne even though Banquo himself will never be king. This prophecy later becomes a source of intense anxiety for Macbeth, who fears Banquo's line will supplant his own.

Why does Macbeth react with fear to the witches' prophecy?

Banquo observes that Macbeth seems to "start" and "fear / Things that do sound so fair," suggesting that the prophecy of kingship triggers a guilty reaction. Macbeth's fear stems from the fact that the prophecy awakens dark thoughts already lurking within him. In his aside, he confesses that the "horrid image" of murder "doth unfix my hair / And make my seated heart knock at my ribs." The prophecy does not create Macbeth's ambition—it reveals it. His fear is not of the witches themselves but of his own "horrible imaginings" and the recognition that he is capable of contemplating regicide.

What is Banquo's warning about the witches in Macbeth?

Banquo delivers one of the play's most important warnings in Act 1, Scene 3. After learning that Macbeth has indeed been named Thane of Cawdor, Banquo cautions: "oftentimes, to win us to our harm, / The instruments of darkness tell us truths, / Win us with honest trifles, to betray's / In deepest consequence." He recognizes that the witches may be using partial truths as bait to lead them toward destruction. This warning establishes Banquo as Macbeth's moral foil—where Macbeth embraces the prophecy, Banquo urges skepticism and restraint.

What is the significance of "So foul and fair a day" in Macbeth?

Macbeth's first words in Act 1, Scene 3—"So foul and fair a day I have not seen"—are deeply significant because they directly echo the witches' chant from Act 1, Scene 1: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair." This verbal connection links Macbeth to the witches before they even speak to him, suggesting that he already inhabits their moral universe where normal distinctions between good and evil are blurred. On a literal level, he refers to the foul weather and the fair victory in battle, but the line foreshadows his coming moral confusion as he struggles to distinguish right from wrong.

What is Macbeth's first aside about in Act 1, Scene 3?

Macbeth's first major aside in Act 1, Scene 3 is a soliloquy in which he grapples with the implications of the witches' prophecy. After learning he is now Thane of Cawdor, he reasons that "Two truths are told, / As happy prologues to the swelling act / Of the imperial theme." He then wrestles with whether the "supernatural soliciting" is good or ill. The aside reveals his first thoughts of murder: "My thought, whose murther yet is but fantastical, / Shakes so my single state of man." He ultimately decides to leave the matter to chance—"If chance will have me King, why, chance may crown me / Without my stir"—but the seed of ambition has been planted.

How does Act 1, Scene 3 of Macbeth use dramatic irony?

Act 1, Scene 3 employs dramatic irony in several ways. The audience already knows from Act 1, Scene 2 that King Duncan has condemned the original Thane of Cawdor for treason and bestowed the title on Macbeth. When the witches hail Macbeth as "Thane of Cawdor," the audience understands this is not truly a prophecy but a statement of fact that Macbeth has not yet learned. This makes the witches' powers ambiguous—are they genuinely seeing the future, or merely revealing present truths to manipulate him? The dramatic irony deepens the play's exploration of fate versus free will, as Macbeth interprets confirmed information as proof of supernatural destiny.

 

Previous Chapter Next Chapter
Return to the Macbeth Summary Return to the William Shakespeare Library