How does Shakespeare develop the mood in two scenes from Act 1-3 of Macbeth?

You might want to think about the way in which Shakespeare uses juxtaposition to help develop the mood of his various scenes and also to develop dramatic irony as we the audience know something that other characters remain blissfully ignorant about. This can be seen very clearly in Act I scene 5 and Act I scene 6. If we examine these two acts, we see Lady Macbeth willingly giving herself up to evil forces as she commits herself and her body to doing whatever is necessary to fulfil the prophecy that Macbeth has received. We then see them plotting to kill Duncan whilst he is staying with them in the castle the next day. She offers her husband the following advice that corresponds with appearances vs. reality:

To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under't.

The dark and evil mood of this scene is immediately contrasted with the pleasant mood of Act I scene 6, which has a light and pleasant mood that is completely the opposite of the scene we have just witnessed. Note how Banquo describes the scene:

This guest of summer,
The temple-haunting martlet, does approve,
By his loved mansionry, that the heaven's breath
Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze,
Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird
Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle:
Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed,
The air is delicate.

This is tremendously ironic. Just as Lady Macbeth has advised her husband to mask his true thoughts with a show of love and devotion, so nature and their castle seems to be doing exactly the same thing. There is nothing from the appearance of the castle to indicate the murderous intentions of its owners, and the mood created here is one of peacefulness and tranquility as nature itself is described in terms that would never lead us to suspect the evil schemes that have been hatched here.

What atmosphere is established in Act 1, Scene 1 of Macbeth?

Act 1 Scene 1 in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a very short scene that does a great job of setting the scene for the rest of the play by creating an atmosphere of deep foreboding.

The only characters are the three witches. The scene is described as “a desert place” with “thunder and lightning.”

The words the witches use contribute to the negative atmosphere. The second witch says:

When the battle's lost and won.

This implies that things are going to be confused and mixed up.

At the end of the scene, all the witches together say:

Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.

Again, this emphasizes the idea that events are going to be unpredictable.

They also say that when they meet again, they will also meet with Macbeth. The fact that all of this negative foreshadowing includes Macbeth makes the audience realize that the main character is probably in for a lot of trouble.

What is the purpose of Act 1, Scene 1 in Macbeth? Does it establish mood or describe the setting?

The first scene of Macbeth is very short and is not one of the more poetically distinguished sections of the play, certainly by comparison with the brilliant imagery of the second scene. It was probably not written by Shakespeare but by Thomas Middleton, his collaborator. Gary Taylor, in the 2007 Oxford edition of Middleton's Collected Works, has argued that Middleton was responsible for about eleven percent of the text of Macbeth as it appears in the First Folio.

The main purpose of this scene is to emphasize the importance of supernatural intervention in the plot. A large part of the witches' power derives from their prescience. If they appeared to Macbeth and Banquo without the audience seeing them first, and understanding that they planned this meeting, their control of events would not appear so impressive. As it is, they immediately predict that the battle will be over before sunset and that they will meet with Macbeth upon the heath, demonstrating their predictive power by the time they actually do meet him.

Aside from this purpose, the scene establishes the somber mood of the play, full of black magic and evil. It also goes some way to accomplishing an aim more fully realized in scene 2, to establish Macbeth as the center of interest before the audience sees him. In scene 2, he is described principally as an outstanding warrior, but even before this, in scene 1, he appears to be a man of destiny, the focus of supernatural attention.

Act I scene i of Macbeth establishes the mood, imagery, and themes of the play.  Here are some examples:

The Supernatural: the supernatural witches will juxtapose the natural (loyalty) and unnatural (murder) later in the play.

Imagery: connected to weather, women (gender), war (blood), and the number 3 (witches, "thunder, lightning, and rain")

Time (past v. present v. future): the play begins with a question: "When shall we three meet again?"  Do the witches foretell the future or do they simply comment what will inevitably happen?

Equivocations: the witches reveal the language of confusion; ambiguity; double meanings; half-truths; paradoxes; riddles

“Foul is fair and fair is foul”

Equivocal Morality: Are the witches good, neutral, or evil?  What's the difference?  How do we know what’s good, or who’s good, if there’s overlap between good and evil?

Pathetic Fallacy: the outside weather (storm) reveals and foreshadows the interior weather (mood) of the play and the Macbeths.  They are storming with ambition and cruelty.

The purpose is to set a dark and dramatic mood to the play.  This was especially important in Shakespeare's day because there obviously were no television trailers to tell the audience what to expect before going to the play.  Shakespeare wrote both comedy and tragedy so it was important to establish which one the audience was watching very quickly.

The witches also act to awaken Macbeth's ambitions.  In Macbeth the first scene is also indicative of the violent weather that always accompanies terrible acts in the play.  When the natural realm is disturbed, you know that the characters in the play are about to be disturbed too.

What is the mood of act 1, scene 1 in Macbeth and what contributes to it?

Macbeth knows the Thane of Cawdor, and believes he is alive and well, and so he finds the prophecy to be ridiculous.  However, when the noblemen arrive to tell them of Cawdor's betrayal and upcoming execution, Macbeth is swayed into thinking that the "weird sisters" are credible.

Lady Macbeth is ready to believe the sisters easily, and wants to move things along immediately.  She fears, however, that Macbeth is too weak of spirit, lacking in the ambition he would need to murder his own kin.  This would prevent the death of Duncan and prevent Macbeth gaining the crown.

Macbeth has honest objections though.  Duncan is his king and his cousin;  he is Duncan's host, and should not bring harm to him; Duncan has been a good leader and is well liked.

The messanger brings the news that Duncan will be visiting the castle.

What is the mood of Act 2 in Macbeth?

At the end of act 1 of Shakespeare's Macbeth, Macbeth has decided to follow Lady Macbeth's advice, screw his courage to the sticking-place, and do what needs to be done to fulfill the Witch's prophecy that he will be King.

MACBETH. I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. (1.7.92-93)

The "terrible feat" to which Macbeth refers is the murder of Duncan, which he is soon to commit.

In act 2, the characters and audience go on a roller coaster ride of emotions of increasing tension, dread, horror, anticipation, and finally release. Act 2, scene 1 opens with a quiet moment between Banquo and his son, Fleance. Macbeth enters with a servant, and he greets Banquo with what the audience knows to be a lie.

BANQUO. Who's there?
MACBETH. A friend. (2.1.12-13)

Banquo tells Macbeth that the King is sleeping peacefully after a pleasant evening's festivities, which reminds the audience of Macbeth intentions towards Duncan. Banquo also reminds Macbeth (and the audience) about the Witches's prophecies. Macbeth tells Banquo another of what the audience knows to be a lie.

MACBETH: I think not of them... (2.1.26)

Macbeth hasn't thought of anything else since the moment he heard the prophecies.

Banquo and Fleance exit, and Macbeth dismisses his servant. The tension rises as Macbeth experiences hallucinations of a dagger in the air in front of him, while he sets the scene for the murder he's going to commit. The audience is already envisioning the horror of the scene about to unfold.

It's a murder that's made ever more horrific because the audience never sees it happen. Shakespeare knows that what the audience imagines is far worse than anything that can be acted out, and he doesn't want to release the tension by letting the audience watch Duncan die.

Scene 2 opens with Lady Macbeth waiting for Macbeth to come back from Duncan's bedroom. Lady Macbeth jumps at the sound of the shrieking owl, and it's likely that most of the members of the audience had the same reaction.

Macbeth enters, covered with blood, and carrying two bloody daggers. The audience realizes that he's done the deed, but even though they've missed seeing it, it's no less real to them.

Macbeth is clearly disoriented. Lady Macbeth does her best to calm his mind, but nothing seems to work. She then realizes that Macbeth didn't finish the job properly. He forgot to leave the daggers with the sleeping guards.

LADY MACBETH. Why did you bring these daggers from the place?
They must lie there. Go carry them, and smear
The sleepy grooms with blood. (2.2.61-63)

Macbeth refuses to return to Duncan's room, so it falls to Lady Macbeth to go back to the room, smear the guards with blood, and leave the daggers with them.

Left alone, Macbeth (along with the audience) jumps at the sound of knocking at the castle gate.

Lady Macbeth returns, and she and Macbeth go off to clean themselves up and get ready for the moment when Duncan's body is sure to be discovered.

With the "porter scene" at the beginning of scene 3, Shakespeare gives the audience a few moments of release from the tension and horror of the murder and the anticipation of what's going to happen next.

That release of tension is short-lived, because the person knocking at the castle door is Macduff, and he's come to meet with Duncan. There's some ribald small talk between Macduff and the Porter to help ratchet up the tension and anticipation back to pre-Porter levels.

Macbeth enters, shows Macduff to Duncan's bedroom, then waits, with the audience, for Macduff's reaction. They don't have to wait long.

MACDUFF. O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart
Cannot conceive nor name thee. (2.3.66-67)

Macbeth goes off with Lennox to view the scene. Lady Macbeth enters, acting like she has no idea what's going on. Banquo enters. Macbeth returns from the bedroom with Lennox, and Ross comes along with them. Chaos ensues as Duncan's sons, Malcolm and Donalbain, enter.

All the while, Shakespeare increases the tension of the scene, with the audience wondering if Macbeth and Lady Macbeth will be discovered to be the murderers.

Macduff seems to have some suspicious about who murdered Duncan. So does Banquo, based on Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's odd behavior, and so do Malcolm and Donalbain, but none of them makes their suspicions known.

In time, everyone goes their own way, and the stage clears except for Malcolm and Donalbain. They decide that the best course of action for them is to leave the country before they're killed by the same people who killed Duncan or they're accused of Duncan's murder.

With their exit, Shakespeare finally releases the tension and lets the audience breathe a sigh of relief. It appears that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth got away with murder. At least for now.

What foreshadowing is present in each scene of Act 3 in Macbeth?

Macbeth certainly foreshadows Banquo's murder in the final lines of act 3, scene 1 when he says,

Banquo, thy soul's flight,
If it find heaven, must find it out tonight. (3.1.161-162)

He has hired murderers to attack Banquo and Fleance while they are on the road, and he intends to dispatch them shortly to kill the father and son. Macbeth believes that Banquo and his descendants are a threat to him and his ability to hold onto his kingly power because of the prophecy the Weird Sisters delivered to Banquo.

Lady Macbeth foreshadows her discontent and eventual suicide early in scene 2 saying,

Naught's had, all's spent,
Where our desire is got without content.
'Tis safer to be that which we destroy
Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy. (3.2.6-9)

She feels that she and Macbeth have done so much to be happy, and yet they are not. She believes that it would be better to be destroyed (or dead) than to destroy others and only experience unhappiness as a result. She will, eventually, destroy herself in order to escape her misery and guilt.

Fleance's escape from Macbeth's hired murderers in scene 3 foreshadows the inevitable success of Banquo's family.

Macbeth's final line in scene 4 foreshadows all of the violence he will continue to do. He tells his wife, "We are yet but young in deed," implying that there is still a great deal more they must accomplish in order to retain the power they've worked so hard to gain (3.4.176).

In scene i, Banquo wonders aloud about the prophecies and admits he does not trust Macbeth:

In scene 3, the murderers attack Banquo.  The dialogue is not as thick as in other scenes, but when the murderer complains that Macbeth doesn't trust him, this is foreshadowing Macbeth's own dissent into madness, and a paranoia that no one is trustworthy:

The foreshadowing of Macbeth's downfall comes further in scene 4, as Macbeth faces off against the "ghost" of Banquo that only he can see.  The following line in particular gives a hint that Macbeth's crime will itself be avenged - and the method of that revenge (the coming of the soldiers in the way that makes the trees seem to move).

MACBETH:It will have blood: they say blood will have blood.
Stones have been known to move and trees to speak;

In Macbeth, what is the mood of act 5, scene 1?

When we think of mood we refer to the overall emotion created by a work of literature. This emotion can normally be described succintly using an adjective or two. Let us consider what happens in this scene first before deciding what the mood is. This scene opens with the whispered conversation of the doctor and the gentlewoman who are discussing Lady Macbeth's condition and how she is sleepwalking and whilst sleepwalking saying things that the gentlewoman is not willing to repeat. Lady Macbeth enters and appears to be washing her hands in her sleep and confesses her involvement in the murder. As she exits, the doctor and gentlewoman discuss the state of Lady Macbeth but also of Scotland before the scene ends:

Foul whisp'rings are abroad. Unnatural deeds
Do breed unnatural troubles: infected minds
To their deaf pillows will discharge their secrets.
More needs she the divine than the physician...

The mood therefore seems to be one of menace and despair, as we see Lady Macbeth, who was formerly so resolute, break down under the weight of the evil that she has abandoned her self to, and we feel sympathy for her character. Likewise the way that her acts have not just impacted herself but also all of Scotland gives rise to a real feeling of menace, as we await the invasion of Malcolm's forces to liberate Scotland.