Act IV Favorites

My favorite lines from Act IV are:

Macbeth: Tell me, thou unknown power, –

First Witch: He knows thy thought: Hear his speech, but say thou nought.

Apparition: Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff; Beware thane of Fife. Dismiss me enough.

These lines occur in Act IV, Scene 1, line: 75-79. This is where Macbeth demands the witches to let him directly talk to the masters of the black arts. Therefore the first apparition appears with an armed head with thunder clapping in the background. This scene is really the last scene where the witches play a big role in Macbeth. Over the course of reading Macbeth, I have come to enjoy the theme of appearance vs. reality very much. I find that the witches in this plot plays a vital role in keeping the audience or reader such as myself enthralled to go on. The mood, setting and themes that the witches set in the storyline really turn the story up a notch.

These few lines stand out from the rest, because I believe these lines really sums up what the witches can do to Macbeth. Their ability to foreshadow events with accuracy lures Macbeth into their trap. In this instance, the apparition tells Macbeth to be wary of Macduff. This is a good example of how they have predicted the future correctly again. By doing so, the evil spirits forces Macbeth to become more “potent” and bloody. This clearly shows that the witches know how to use these predictions to their own advantage. It forces people like Macbeth to always come back for more, because once they start their unprecedented path of evil, they won’t be able to go back. In conclusion, the witches grasp Macbeth’s ambition for power and use it to their advantage throughout the play. The witches’ skillfulness makes Macbeth a very enjoyable play to read.