The short and precise opening scene sets the tone for the play in a general and philosophical way. It is a universal evocation of the problem of evil in the moral universe of man.
1. The scene foregrounds the witches and thus the role of the supernatural in the play.
2. They are three in number; three is the mystical number.
3. They speak in Trochaic as opposed to the general Iambic rhythm of the play. There is a distinction drawn between the human and the supernatural even on the level of accentuation.
4. They speak in an ironic order and sequence, though they are agents of disorder and anarchy.
5. The scene builds up great suspense around the absent figure of Macbeth who seems to be the centre of their attention.
6. The setting of the scene, the heath along with the thunder and rain create the ideal aura.
7. The scene has great contemporary popular appeal given that witches were so popular figures of imagination in Elizabethan England.
8. The 'battle' motif introduces the moral conflicts of the play. It is a battle that can be both lost and won.
9. The words of the witches set up the important theme of equivocation. The element of redundancy in their speech, as their prophecy would reveal is lethal.
10. Most importantly the scene ends with the maxim of the play. We know what to expect now. The black and white binary of good and evil is deconstructed as the deadly chiasmic utterance projects the ambivalent mutuality of the fair and the foul, of which the tragedy of Macbeth is soon to become an example.
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