MACBETH                  What, is this so?

FIRST WITCH            Ay, sir, all this is so. But why

Stands Macbeth thus amazedly?

Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprites,

And show the best of our delights.

I’ll charm the air to give a sound,

While you perform your antic round,

That this great king may kindly say

Our duties did his welcome pay.

Music. The Witches dance, and vanish

MACBETH      Where are they? Gone? Let this pernicious hour

Stand aye accursèd in the calendar.            (4.1.122-132)

This is one of the joins of the scene, and a slightly bumpy one; this passage may not be by Shakespeare, and could be a later interpolation; some editors assign the First Witch’s speech to Hecate, for whom no earlier exit stage direction is supplied. What, is this so? is a somewhat pallid and redundant response from Macbeth, although it can also have the air of stunned realisation: so, this is how it’s going to be, everything I feared. All for nothing. The Witch’s response could, perhaps, be played with heavy sarcasm, Ay, sir, all this is so. Yep. But why stands Macbeth thus amazedly? Why are you looking so confused, so baffled and lost for words? (As so often with words to do with amazement, the original sense of being lost as in a maze is apt here.) We’ll cheer you up! (More sarcasm?) Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprites, and show the best of our delights. Bit of a diversion, song and dance: I’ll charm the air to give a sound, while you perform your antic round. More music (but probably not the earlier hautboys—part of what could be happening here is a differentiation of the witches’ magic from the deeper enchantment of the apparitions—so it would make sense for it to have a different soundscape, air not earth—flutes, perhaps, here) and another circle dance, an antic round (a further contrast, perhaps, with the line of the procession of kings). Then this great king (heavy irony) may kindly say our duties did his welcome pay. He won’t be able to complain that we didn’t treat him well, and with respect, that we didn’t show him a good time! So, Music. The Witches dance, and vanish. They have to be got off stage somehow, and in a way that makes them distinctive, in their sound and movement, from both Macbeth and the apparitions. It’s Macbeth’s words that give the vanishing effect its suddenness: Where are they? Gone? Just like that, it seems. And he’s heavy-hearted, grimly cast down, despairing. Let this pernicious hour stand aye accursèd in the calendar. This is a terrible day, a day that must and will always be regarded as cursed, unlucky, ill-omened. In its immediate context, it seems as if he’s describing it thus because of what he’s just heard and seen, as a way of marking that series of revelations. But it will very soon become apparent that the day, the hour will stand aye accursèd because of the choices and decisions Macbeth’s about to make, and what he’s about to do.