The Witches quotes

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair”

Theme: Appearance vs reality

• In their incantations, they speak in paradoxes and oxymorons - their speech is conflicting, what they appear to say does not correlate with reality

• This sets up the tone of the play which explores the theme of appearance vs reality. It is consistent throughout the play which reinforces their deceitful and duplicitous intentions

• Morality is flipped - what is expected to happen doesn’t occur; boundaries between good and evil are blurred and confused. The audience see that what is right can be wrong, and what is wrong can be right

"All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king…!"

Theme: Ambition

• The witches can be seen as catalysts to Macbeth’s hamartia as they plant seeds of ambition into his mind; the supernatural deliberately misguides and misleads Macbeth to breaking the great chain of being to create chaos

• They can be seen as causing trouble as this is the first time Macbeth has thought about becoming king. Before, he was content with being a “valiant cousin” and a “worthy gentlemen”. He now wonders what more he could achieve beyond being Thane of Glamis and eventually Cawdor

• Macbeth deals with internal conflict throughout the play. He struggles with the ambitions he has after the witches prophesy.

“Something wicked this way comes”

Theme: Supernatural and Evil

• The witches successfully recognise how they have corrupted and transformed Macbeth’s mind from being a noble person to malevolent. They are agents of chaos and destruction

• By surpassing the great chain of being, Jacobeans would interpret this as God is furious with Macbeth and therefore he is aligned with devilish forces

• Macbeth now resembles the Witches and his evil is indistinguishable and synonymous from theirs. This quote represents the theme of the supernatural, since the Witches’ supernatural nature can feel Macbeth’s evil presence even before he arrives.

“Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble”

Theme: Supernatural

Witches amplify the theme of deception and equivocation (ambiguity) within this act as they speak in proverbial (common) supernatural phrases. They conform to the archetype (norm) of witches that the audience would fear

“none of woman born shall harm Macbeth” (2nd apparition)

Theme: Appearance vs reality

Each prophecy is equivocal (vague) and ambiguous. They appear to give Macbeth pertinent (important) insight to his safety. In reality, they are only giving an ephemeral sense of security and invincibility. The witches know his hubris obstructs him from realising this

Banquo warns Macbeth of their “instruments of darkness”

Theme: Supernatural

• Suggests their evil musicality, perhaps that their words are more hypnotic for Macbeth. In contrast to Banquo who is sceptical of their intentions, perceiving them as agents of evil

• This suggests he has awareness of the potential consequences of getting involved with the witches and dark magic - he mirrors the Jacobean audience’s and King James I’s view (link to Daemonologie)

• Shakespeare shows throughout this play that despite Banquo's understanding, it still wasn't enough to keep Macbeth away from evil, showing how deceiving power is since it results in Macbeth killing his noble partner in war