Stichomythia

Macbeth: Act 1 Scene 1

FIRST WITCH When shall we three meet again?
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
SECOND WITCH When the hurly-burly’s done,
When the battle’s lost and won.
THIRD WITCH That will be ere the set of sun.
FIRST WITCH Where the place?
SECOND WITCH Upon the heath.
THIRD WITCH There to meet with Macbeth.
FIRST WITCH I come, Grimalkin.
SECOND WITCH Paddock calls.
THIRD WITCH Anon.
ALL Fair is foul, and foul is fair,
Hover through the fog and filthy air.

As mentioned by Professor Little, Shakespeare opened the play Macbeth in an unusual way as compared with Shakespeare’s other plays. Single-line exchanged dialogue among the three witches is observed in the beginning of the first scene.
The use of alternating lines in alternating characters in a scene is a technique called stichomythia. Stichomythia is often, however, being used when the plot comes to climax, or when there are some arguments going on among characters. Using stichomythia in the first scene of the play is therefore exceptional in Macbeth. We may sense there is something going wrong in the place of Scotland with the fact that chaos is all around and there is no sense of stability.

Ching Kar Wong
Section 1C