1. Macbeth meets the witches a second time.
Act 4
Macbeth meets the witches a second time.

2. Scene 1
Witches make a spell using rhyming couplets – the key phrase being double, double.
Macbeth is called wicked by the witches.
Macbeth reminds audience of what witches can do (cp. I iii), asks to see the witches masters:
Beware the Thane of Fife, beware Macduff
None of woman born shall harm Macbeth
Macbeth shall never vanquished be…
then is shown
a procession of 8 kings (see Marxist piece)

3. Macbeth tellingly, says of the witches:
Infected be the air on which they ride
And dammed be all that trust them.
When he hears Macduff has fled to England, he decides to
act on impulse
Strange things I have in head that will to hand which must be
acted ere they may be scanned (III iv )
The very firstlings of my heart of my heart
shall be the firstlings of my hand (IV I 157-8)
This deed I’ll do before this purpose cool
Macbeth is no longer thinking before he acts, so that neither
the act (right/wrong) or its consequences are considered.
Scene 2 – The murder of the Macduff family.

4. Scene 3
James 1st was probably as much interested in witches as he was in Kingship, having written books about both subjects. This scene is about Kingship. It begins with Malcolm testing Macduff to see if he can trust him – Macbeth having left his family defenceless.