Three Apparitions In Macbeth

Setting is a large part of Macbeth because it sets the scene and reveals things about different characters. Act four starts out with darkness and thunder as the witches are brewing something and chanting “double, double toil and trouble, fire burn, and cauldron bubble.”(4.1.10-11) All of the scenes throughout Macbeth that involve the witches are very dark and creepy which represents the darkness around the witches. They chant about trouble because they are trouble. The witches are manipulative and cause major trouble in people’s lives. The act starts out with the darkness of the witches which sets the scene for how dark and sad this scene is. Once Macbeth arrives to where the witches are there is more darkness and thunder, then there are the three apparitions. The witches call for the apparitions by saying “Come high or low; thyself and office deftly show.”(4.1.75-76) The three apparitions are an armed head, a bloody child, and a child crowned with a tree in his hand, the three of them tell Macbeth differently and slightly contradicting things that confuse him further proving how dark and manipulative the witches are. The apparitions are an extension of the witches as they say what the witches would have said, but with more meaning because they scared Macbeth and he wondered what they were
The castle is light and although Lady Macduff is angry with her husband and why he left, she still jokes with her son who says “Nay, how will you do for a husband?” to which she responds “Why, I can buy me twenty at the market.” (4.2.46-47) There is a false sense of security that the Macduff’s feel. The lightness and jokes that they share are lost within a few minutes as first a messenger comes to tell them to run and then murderers come and kill them. This scene shows how any happiness in this play does not last for long and will end with much darkness and