Monday, February 9, 2015

Act 1 Prompt

In what way do the three witches set the tone for the rest of the play? Does this make their appearance necessary?

8 comments:

  1. The three witches set the tone of the play because in a way they are intentionally equivocating how the rest of the play will develop. There are many ways to interpret their equivocations which is also precisely why they are needed, they also help set the theme of the play being things are not as they seem. As a reader one can believe their initial presence is necessary for the level of understanding for the rest of the play because without their short, fundamental input of the situation at hand, we the readers would not know what is happening as the play is opening and would not know what to expect as it continues on.

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  2. The three witches set a tone for the play starting in Act 1. It puts a creepy feel on the play itself. The witches give it a sort of mystery part and leaves the audience yearning for more. As the play proceeds on, you see that the witches actually do play a key part in how the overall feel of the play is centered around the beginning portion. When the play goes on, the witches are seen more and more and it sets an eery tone over the audience.

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  3. The three witches set the tone for the play by equivocating a lot. They also use diction that is used throughout Act one as well. They foreshadow how much the rest of the characters, with a few exceptions will not be very clear on their words and are hard decision makers. The witches also allow us to see that they are persuasive and can help the people who have trouble making decisions and persuade them to make decisions the witches might want more. They appear to be one of the driving forces in the play thus far.

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  4. Although modern society has diminished the creepy presence that witches possessed around a thousand years ago, and instead, has created a funny looking character that children dress up as on Halloween, Shakespeare's purpose for including the witches was to establish fear among the audience. This novel has been labeled as being one of Shakespeare' most tragic novels, and definitely lives up to that title after only reading the first scene of Act 1. These three unsightly sisters with untamed beards come out of the night's fog-which I imagine must be terrifying to a live audience a couple hundred years ago-.
    --Ellyn

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  5. The witches set the vital, creepy and sinister tone of the play, with the intentions of frightening the audience. Their specific word choice is something to pay attention to. Even some of their diction foreshadows latter events in the play. In addition to foreshadowing, their words often confuse and make the rest of the characters in the play take time to think and consider what the witches could mean. The verbal power that the witches have allows them to easily persuade and influence characters, such as Macbeth. The witches are crucial to the play, and help the play move along.

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  6. The three witches set the dark and supernatural-esque scene in the first act and scene of the play. Their equivocating words and gender-neutral appearances give the intended audience of witchcraft believing 16th century citizens a scary and uneasy feeling as bearded women dance around the stage yelling spells. The diction they use and words they say even foreshadows events in the following play rather than simply making the audience feel uncomfortable. These witches even provide the trend of verbal power and verbal rhetoric to confuse the audience and other characters in the play.

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  7. The three witches set the tone for the play making it dark, creepy, and eerie. The word choice of the witches is very persuasive and influential to characters such as Macbeth and also foreshadows what is to come in the play. The three witches are important in the play, set the tone for the play in act 1 leaving the reader wondering what comes next.

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  8. The witches set the tone and foreshadow the evil deeds that would be performed during the play. The witches add a supernatural element to the play. The witches lead Macbeth down a perilous path and show Macbeth's transformation form Act One to Act Five. At the time the play was created many people believed in witchcraft so everything the witches said were thought of as real curses. This made the play frightening and eerie. It also posed the question to whether or not Macbeth was in full control of his actions. The witches appearance would have to be repulsive and it was necessary to show the audience the wicked Macbeth would lie with.

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