 Studying Macbeth? Here's how you can analyse Act 1, Scene 1 when you first meet the witches. Whilst Act 1, Scene 1 is very brief, it is important in establishing the witches as agents of chaos. Shakespeare uses pathetic fallacy to show that the witches are about to cause chaos in Scotland. Rhyming couplet is used here to show that the witches delight in causing chaos. Hurley Burley is a reference to the war that Scotland is currently going through. They basically have decided to want to wait until it's peaceful in Scotland before they begin destroying again. Shakespeare uses assonance here to show the witches plotting to bump into Macbeth, and of course this foreshadows when they meet him in Act 1, Scene 3. They all chant, fair is foul and foul is fair, and the repetition of these oxymorons show that they will disrupt the natural order of affairs in Scotland.