Who or what is it about when the witches say fair is foul and foul is fair in the book of Macbeth?

Answer 1

That's a line from Macbeth. Yes, the witches in Macbeth say the line "Fair is foul and foul is fair" in Act 1 Scene 1. The whole line is "Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Hover through the fog and filthy air".

Why do they say it? Who knows, it's a witchy thing. But it does help set up a theme of moral ambiguity, of appearance not matching reality, which is a theme throughout the play. Some have argued that it is essentially what the play is all about.

Answer 2

The actual quote is "Fair is foul, and foul is fair." It is spoken by all three witches in the opening scene of the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare. "Bartleby.com" is a great reference source for finding quotations and other literary information that is no longer protected by copyright. For more information about Shakespeare or to borrow a copy of Macbethto read on your own, visit your local public library!

Answer 3

The theme of appearance and reality is an important one in Macbeth (and in most of Shakespeare's plays). The witches' statement is echoed by Macbeth, whose first line is "So foul and fair a day I have not seen."

The whole issue of the witches' predictions raises questions. "This supernatural soliciting cannot be good; cannot be ill. If ill, why hath it given me earnest of success, commencing with a truth? I am Thane of Cawdor. If good, why do I yield to that suggestion which doth unfix my hair . . ." Are the predictions good or evil? Are the witches good or evil?

The whole play raises issues about Macbeth--is he a pawn in the designs of others (his wife, the witches), a basically good man driven to evil? Or is he the evil monster which he appears to be to MacDuff and the others who suffer from his actions?

The early part of the play in particular has a recurring theme of deception. Duncan is deceived by Cawdor. "There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face; he was a gentleman on whom I built a perfect trust". Lady M counsels Macbeth to hide the foul beneath a fair face: "Your face, my Thane, is like a book where one may read strange matters." and "Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't", and later Macbeth re-echoes this: "false face must hide what the false heart doth know."

The Irish critic Fintan O'Toole argues persuasively that the entire play is built around images of things which are not what they appear to be

Answer 4

At the very beginning of the play (you should be watching it, not reading it), the witches chant "Fair is foul and foul is Fair. Hover through the fog and filthy air." It's a witches' chant, which means it sounds mysterious and is probably magic. However the fair is foul thing has a number of repercussions:

1. It sets up Macbeth's first line: "So foul and fair a day I have not seen."

2. It makes us think of deception. That which seems fair will prove foul.

3. It makes us think of ambiguity. In this play, nothing is what it seems. (Even the witches: "You should be women and yet your beards forbid me to say so.")

Answer 5

"When the battle's lost and won." "As two spent swimmers, that do cling together / And choke their art."

Answer 6

In Act 1 Scene 1 "Fair is foul and foul is fair; hover through the fog and filthy air" and Act 1 Scene 3 "So foul and fair a day I have not seen."

Answer 7

appearances can be deceiving.