© Pearson Education, Inc., or its affiliates. All rights reserved.NOTESI’ll drain him dry as hay:
Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his penthouse lid;^9
He shall live a man forbid:^10
Weary sev’nights^11 nine times nine
Shall he dwindle, peak,^12 and pine:
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tossed.
Look what I have.
Second Witch. Show me, show me.
First Witch. Here I have a pilot’s thumb,
Wracked as homeward he did come.
[Drum within.]Third Witch. A drum, a drum!
Macbeth doth come.
All. The weird^13 sisters, hand in hand,
Posters^14 of the sea and land,
Thus do go about, about:
Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,
And thrice again, to make up nine.
Peace! The charm’s wound up.
[Enter Macbeth and Banquo.]
Macbeth. So foul and fair a day I have not seen.
Banquo. How far is ’t called to Forres? What are these
So withered, and so wild in their attire,
That look not like th’ inhabitants o’ th’ earth.
And yet are on ’t? Live you, or are you aught
That man may question? You seem to understand me,
By each at once her choppy^15 finger laying
Upon her skinny lips. You should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so.
Macbeth. Speak, if you can: what are you?
First Witch. 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!
Banquo. Good sir, why do you start, and seem to fear
Things that do sound so fair? I’ th’ name of truth,
Are you fantastical,^16 or that indeed
Which outwardly ye show? My noble partner
You greet with present grace^17 and great prediction
Of noble having^18 and of royal hope,
That he seems rapt withal;^19 to me you speak not.
If you can look into the seeds of time,20- penthouse lid eyelid.
- forbid cursed.
- sev’nights weeks.
- peak waste away.
25
30- weird destiny-serving.
- Posters swift travelers.
35
4045- choppy chapped.
50- fantastical imaginary.
55 - grace honor.
- having possession.
- rapt withal entranced by it.
CLOSE READ
ANNOTATE: In lines 40–48, mark
words and phrases that describe
the witches' appearance and
behavior.
QUESTION: What impression
of the witches does this speech
convey?
CONCLUDE: What emotions
does Banquo seem to feel as he
addresses the witches?264 UNIT 3 • FACING THE FUTURE, CONFRONTING THE PASTLIT17_SE12_U03_A1C_WC.indd 264 20/03/16 1:22 AMTEACHING
CLOSE READ
Remind students that the witches have a key role
in the play based on how their prophecies affect
the character’s actions. You may wish to model
the Close Read using the following think-aloud
format. Possible responses to questions on the
student page are included. You may also want to
print copies of the Close-Read Guide: Fiction
for students to use.
ANNOTATE: As I read lines 40−48, I notice and
highlight the words that Banquo uses to describe
the witches. I see that many of the words are
adjectives, and Shakespeare names interesting
physical characteristics that help me visualize the
witches’ appearance.
QUESTION:I can see that Banquo describes
the witches as withered looking and bizarrely
dressed. They have chapped fingers, skinny lips,
and beards. This conveys an eerie and frightening
impression.CONCLUDE: Banquo seems to express some level
of confusion or fear. I think that because Banquo
states that the witches don’t look like they
belong on Earth, he feels they are strange and
otherworldly. He feels that the beards keep him
from believing that the witches really are women.PERSONALIZE FOR LEARNING
Challenge
The Fates Review Banquo’s description of
the witches in Scene iii, lines 40– 48. In Greek
mythology, a person’s fate was determined by
three women, sometimes called the “weird
sisters.” They were usually pictured spinning or
weaving the fabric of a person’s life, which was
then arbitrarily cut. In fact, the Middle English
word werde meant “fate.” In The Tragedy of
Macbeth, the three witches appear throughoutthe play to foretell Macbeth’s future—
and determine his fate. Many other
authors and filmmakers have drawn
upon this image from Greek mythology
and created versions of the weird
sisters. Invite students to examine the
way the sisters have been represented
in at least two different works, such as
a film version of Macbeth, or otherfilms such as Disney’s Hercules. Suggest
they record similarities and differences
between the women in these two
works, and then compare both to the
way students imagined the witches as
they were reading the descriptions of
them in this text.264 UNIT 3 • FACING THE FUTURE, CONFRONTING THE PAST
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