Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' Act 1, Scene 1

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Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' Act 1, Scene 1

In the opening scene (Act 1, Scene 1) of William Shakespeare's five-act tragedy, Macbeth, we come across the three weird sisters or the three witches in a desert place. It was a heath. When they met one another, it was thundering and lightning. They decided to meet again in the same weather: "In thunder, lightning, or in rain".

After the completion of the First Witch's dialogue, the Second Witch suggested that they should meet after the 'hurlyburly'. She also equivocated that they would meet when "the battle's lost and won".

Then the Third Weird Sister expressed her view that they would meet one another before sunset.

They finally resolved that they would meet one another on "the heath". They decided to meet Macbeth as well.

Thereafter, after hearing their pets' cries, they were about to depart. Right then, they uttered the topsy turvy song:

"Fair is foul, and foul is fair:

Hover through the fog and filthy air."

We all know that in the song of the Three Witches they made an equivocation. Broadly speaking, they summed up the essence of the drama in their topsy turvy song. We get more enlightened regarding this as we advance through the play. Here, we get an example of Chiasmus, a literary rhetorical device.

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