The Conversation Of Evil In Macbeth By William Shakespeare

Words: 335
Pages: 2

The introductory scene of Macbeth expresses manipulative and confusing tones which reflect the development of the play’s themes by representing the evil that corrupts the rest of the play. The witches are a symbol of evil and its goals because they manipulate Macbeth and cloud judgement with confusion. Because the conversation the witches are having is already partway completed when the audience enters, it integrates the idea of time and its relation to evil because the audience enters the scene without prior knowledge and is therefore confused. The conversation is not only incomplete, but also being viewed through a layer of “fog and filthy air” to emphasize ambiguity and confusion (1.1.13). The description of the setting as “filthy” and “foul” reflects upon the witches’ collective character and their means of enacting evil (1.1.12,13). …show more content…
Accordingly, the witches way of speaking enthralls the audience by using steady and poetic language to build suspense and ambiguity. The suspense and ambiguity set the stage for the continuance of these elements throughout the remainder of the play. Since evil’s means of corruption are a major theme of the play, the witches use confusion and manipulation to cause others to ruin their personal goodness via speaking in brief, rhyming lines that require inference to make sense. Speaking in sets of three, the witches build their power and influence while muddling the meaning of their words as a form of exploitation which foreshadows their influence over