Three witches gather on a crappy meadow, planning to meet with Macbeth. The number three will come up multiple times throughout this play, btw. A huge battle is apparently going on somewhere nearby, and the witches intone the famous paradox (what's a paradox? Two places to fish!) "Fair is foul and foul is fair. . ."
So, we have to ask ourselves: Witches? Really? Well, since Shakespeare is clearly establishing mood, we are no longer in the Real World as we know it, and we know that other supernatural vibes will manifest themselves. Rock on, Witches. And since there are three of them, divining the future and calling upon creepy animals, this might be an allusion to the Three Fates from Greek mythology.
Act I, Scene ii: A military camp, directly north of B military camp (I crack myself up so consistently)
Here is our first clue that something is awry: the King of Scotland, Duncan, is at a military camp awaiting a summary of how the battle has been going. It's 1050, in a tribal culture. Why the heck is he not on the battlefield? Is he too old, too weak, too ineffectual? These are questions the inquiring minds want to know. To my mind, this means he is doomed--any warlike country with a wimpy king is just waiting for a coup. Just saying. Scotland has apparently been battling Norway, and we never find out why, but Duncan's oldest son Malcolm has been released from captivity and two awesomely B.A. captains named Banquo and Macbeth have been kicking some Norwegian butt on the battlefield.
A rapidly exsanguinating captain brings the battle report, saying how Macbeth has eviscerated a traitor named MacDonwald right there on the field, by inserting his sword into his bellybutton and ripping him up the torso, right to the chin. There is no band-aid big enough for that kind of wound, so even before we meet Macbeth we know that he is a fearsome beast who is not shy about blood. The bleeding captain then says that the battle redoubles, and Scotland has started to lose ground, before he says that he is dying and would really like a doctor now please. He is carried away, and finally news of Scotland's victory comes to Duncan, with further news of a newly discovered traitor--the Thane of Cawdor, who apparently has been helping the King of Norway. Perhaps Norwegian cuisine is better than haggis. Who knows? With the final couplet of this primarily expository scene, Duncan declares a death sentence upon the Thane and gives his title and his lands to Macbeth. Macbeth, of course, does not know this yet, as we have yet to meet him. Great happiness to Scotland; the Norweyan lord has been destroyed. Now the Scots are free to fight each other, or to invent Scott Tissue.
Act I, scene iii: Heath again, or a blasted meadow.
(By the way, I am posting all of this from memory, so if there are occasional glitches please forgive. I am passionate about this play, but that does not necessarily imply accuracy.)
The three witches are once more gathered, and this time they tell a disgusting tale about jealousy, murder, and control. One of the witches, who had been out killing swine, asks her "sister" where she has been, and the reply is chilling: A sailor's wife had refused her a chestnut as a snack, so she transformed herself and haunted the sailor, crashing his ship and ripping off his thumb as a souvenir. Apparently, these witches--the Weird Sisters (like the band in Harry Potter IV!)--are shape-shifters and time-alterers, and they enjoy messing people about. This is what we call foreshadowing, people. Then, they say, "Macbeth doth come!" and come he doth.
Macbeth and Banquo, BFFs from the old days, are trudging back from battle. It has been a long, gruesome day, but, crap, they won, so they are moderately happy in their battle-weary kiltyness, and Macbeth inadvertently echoes the witches from Act I, scene i when he intones, "So foul and fair a day I have not seen." As they approach Duncan's castle at Forres (which I believe now to be Edinburgh) they are distracted by the sight of three weird chicks hanging out in the road. Actually, above the road--they are of the earth, but not on it.
Banquo notices that they have beards, and short of offering them a PedEgg for their chins, he asks them what they are. Macbeth demands that they speak. This dialogue is what we call characterization--Banquo is curious and mystified, and Macbeth is a bossy butthead. The witches offer three predictions (see that number again?) to Macbeth: Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, King hereafter. Now, he knows he is Thane of Glamis, due to his father Sinel's death. He does not know about Thane of Cawdor, but we do (dramatic irony!) and he has not even considered King as a possibility, due to his apparent loyalty to Duncan. However, he almost instantly begins to fantasize about killing his king. Note that the witches never say, "Thou shalt kill your king tonight at your house with your wife's help." They just say "You'll be king someday." Isn't it interesting where his brain immediately goes?
So here is the real question: Are the witches controlling him, or are they physical manifestations of the desires he already nurtures inside of his dark soul? (Or of his wife's?)
Banquo wants in on the action, too, and asks for his fortunes. The witches respond with what could best be described as rude riddles or math problems. "Lesser than Macbeth, but greater; not so happy, but happier. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none." Discerning readers will note that these predictions will mean that Banquo has to die, and soon, but he will probably get to go to heaven, since this is a Shakespearean tragedy and decent people get whacked quickly.
(This reminds me of my favorite definition of tragedy, from a Stoppard play: "The bad end unhappily, and the good, unluckily, and this is what we call tragedy.")
Before the men can further question the witches, they disappear (neat trick!) as Ross and Angus ride up with news. Ross and Angus are festively named thanes, too, and are untrustworthy as all get-out. Note how snarkily the men frequently talk to each other. Granted, I don't speak fluent Dude, but it seems that they insult each other with alacrity ("I won't pay you for your words, jerk, but just came to tell you some news," is how one of the lines could be paraphrased) even when they bring "good" news. They tell Macbeth that he is the Thane of Cawdor, and while Banquo, Ross and Angus talk about other things (the weather? wine, women, song? bagpipes? we never know) Macbeth in an aside to the audience contemplates killing his king. Really? Seriously? C'mon, Mac; you just got a massive promotion. Can't you just enjoy that? What's wrong with you?
The men leave to go to the castle together and celebrate the end of the war.
