Key Quote
“"Fair is foul, and foul is fair"”
The Witches · Act 1, Scene 1
Focus: “foul”
The Witches' opening incantation establishes the play's central paradox: moral boundaries are unstable, and what appears good may be evil. This sets the tone for Macbeth's entire tragic descent.
Technique 1 — CHIASMUS / ANTITHETICAL PARALLELISM
Shakespeare employs chiasmus (a rhetorical structure where two phrases are reversed) — 'fair is foul' mirrors 'foul is fair' — creating a sense of moral inversion (turning upside down). The antithetical (directly opposing) pairing collapses the distinction between good and evil, suggesting that in this world moral categories are arbitrary (based on random choice rather than reason).
The trochaic tetrameter (a rhythmic pattern of stressed-unstressed syllables, four per line) — distinct from the iambic pentameter used by human characters — marks the Witches as otherworldly. Their irregular rhythm mirrors the disruption they bring to the natural and moral order.
Key Words
RAD — STAGNATE
The Witches exist outside the moral development of the play — they neither progress nor regress but represent a static (unchanging) force of chaos. Their stagnation is deliberate: they are catalysts for Macbeth's fall but remain unchanged themselves, functioning as archetypal (representing a universal pattern) agents of disorder.
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Technique 2 — PROLEPTIC IRONY
The line functions as proleptic (anticipating future events) irony: it foreshadows Macbeth's journey from 'fair' (brave warrior) to 'foul' (tyrannical murderer). Shakespeare plants the seed of the entire tragic arc in the play's first scene, creating a sense of inevitability (something that cannot be avoided) that haunts every subsequent decision.
The plural verb — 'Fair IS foul' — presents moral collapse as a statement of fact, not possibility. This declarative (stating something as certain) mood strips away human agency, suggesting Macbeth's fate may already be sealed before he even appears on stage.
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Context (AO3)
JAMES I & WITCHCRAFT
King James I wrote Daemonologie (1597), a treatise on witchcraft, and personally oversaw witch trials. Shakespeare's portrayal of the Witches directly flatters the King's interests while tapping into genuine societal paranoia (widespread irrational fear). The opening scene would have provoked real anxiety in a Jacobean audience who believed in demonic forces.
THE GREAT CHAIN OF BEING
Jacobean society believed in a divinely ordained (ordered by God) hierarchy — God, King, man, woman, animal. The Witches' inversion of moral categories threatens this entire structure, suggesting that the cosmic order itself can be disrupted. Regicide (killing a king) was not merely murder but an offence against God's design.
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WOW — DECONSTRUCTING BINARY OPPOSITIONS (Derrida)
Jacques Derrida argued that Western thought relies on binary oppositions (paired concepts where one is privileged: good/evil, fair/foul) — and that these hierarchies are constructed, not natural. The Witches' incantation performs a deconstructive act: by equating 'fair' with 'foul', they collapse the moral binary that underpins social order. Shakespeare anticipates Derrida by four centuries, suggesting that the categories society depends on — good/evil, loyal/treacherous, natural/supernatural — are inherently unstable. This philosophical instability is what makes Macbeth's tragedy possible: if 'fair' can become 'foul', then a loyal thane can become a regicidal tyrant.
Key Words