Macbeth: Act 4, scene 1 Summary & Analysis

In a cavern, the weird sisters throw awful ingredients such as "eye of newt and toe of frog" (4.1.14) into a cauldron full of a boiling brew. Hecate arrives, and all dance and sing. One witch cries out "Something wicked this way comes" (4.1.62): Macbeth enters. He commands the witches to answer his questions.

The witches conjure up three apparitions. First, a floating head appears and tells Macbeth to beware Macduff.

Next, a bloody child appears. The child says that "no man of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth" (4.1.95-96).

Finally, a child wearing a crown and holding a tree appears. It says that Macbeth will not be defeated until Great Birnam Wood marches to Dunsinane Hill. Macbeth is pleased: since forests don't march, he must be invincible!

Macbeth wants to know one more thing: will Banquo's heirs have the throne? The witches perform a final conjuring. Eight kings appear walking in a line, the eighth holding a mirror, and all of them followed by Banquo's ghost. Macbeth, furious at this sign that Banquo's heirs will get the throne, demands answers. But Hecate mocks him and the witches vanish.

Lennox enters. He brings word that Macduff has fled to England. In an aside, Macbeth scolds himself for failing to kill Macduff when he wanted to earlier. He vows in the future to act on every impulse, and decides to attack Macduff's castle and kill anyone connected to him: servants, wife, and children.