Macbeth
Scene #1 · Act I, Scene 3
The three witches greet Macbeth with three prophecies: they hail him as Thane of Glamis (his current title), Thane of Cawdor, and future king. Macbeth visibly reacts with fear to these predictions, prompting Banquo to question why he seems afraid of things that "sound so fair." When Macbeth demands more information, the witches vanish, leaving him confused about how he could become Cawdor when that thane still lives. Shortly after, Ross and Angus arrive to announce that King Duncan has indeed named Macbeth the new Thane of Cawdor, confirming the second prophecy and sending Macbeth into a state of intense internal conflict about the third.
This moment sets the entire tragedy in motion by planting the seed of ambition in Macbeth's mind and providing apparent supernatural validation for his rise to power. The immediate fulfillment of the second prophecy lends credibility to the third, causing Macbeth to contemplate murder even though he finds the thought horrifying. The scene reveals Macbeth's susceptibility to ambition and establishes the witches as catalysts who speak truths that lead to destruction, a central theme of fate versus free will that drives the play's action.
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!
Act I, Scene 3 · The Three Witches
Two truths are told, / As happy prologues to the swelling act / Of the imperial theme.—
Act I, Scene 3 · Macbeth
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?
Act I, Scene 3 · Macbeth
Good sir, why do you start and seem to fear / Things that do sound so fair?—
Act I, Scene 3 · Banquo
Into the air; and what seem’d corporal, / Melted as breath into the wind.
Act I, Scene 3 · Macbeth