Three otherworldly witches meet somewhere in dark, stormy weather speak the future and discuss where and when they will meet again. “When the battle is lost and won” “Fair is foul and foul is fair” “Where the place? Upon the Heath. There to meet with Macbeth.” I feel these witches will have a large role in the play, like in Romeo and Juliet (act one scene one) they first introduced the Capulets and Montagues whitch a lot of the play was related to.
Shakespeare demonstrates these beings to be otherworldly for the pentameter they speak in constantly changes. All humans speak in Trochaic Pentameter however the witches speak in multiple formats. The witches themselves needed to be otherworldly. They were considered agents of evil that dabbled in black magic to tell the future, conduct dark rituals with the devil, making potions and poisons over a hot cauldron and create plagues and diseases to cripple their enemies. They rejected holy teachings and instead defiled them and there was often in mythology and stories there was often a Black Cat nearby (in the case of Macbeth, Greymalkin).
The play was originally performed in Shakespeare’s original london theater burnt down after a cannon accidentally set fire to a tapestry in a play of King Henry the Eighth. It was later reconstructed down the road to the original construction specifications.