“Fair is foul, and foul is fair’
This quote tells us about the witches´ hatred for all things good, and their love for things that are evil. Shakespeare adds rhyme and rhythm to the witches´ language to enhance their evilness.
The first meeting between Macbeth and the witches is significant as they make two predictions, “Hail to thee thane of Cawdor” and more importantly, “That shalt be king hereafter.” These predictions astonish Macbeth due to their sudden nature. This enables the witches to be able to lure Macbeth into a false sense of security and make Macbeth do their evil dirty work. The witches do manipulate Macbeth and when he tells Lady Macbeth of the predictions, an evil plan is constructed and the witches plan is going according to plan.
“I’ve done the deed.”
This deed is the worst possible crime, Macbeth has murdered king Duncan in cold blood, evil has triumphed over good. Macbeth, the good brave warrior at the beginning of the play has been driven by his ambition powered by the witches to be king.
“Look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under´t.”
Lady Macbeth plants the seed of murdering king Duncan in Macbeth’s mind. The language Shakespeare uses here is very significant to the whole good vs. evil theme; the flower is associated with beauty and goodness while the snake is associated with evil.
It is only at the end of the play that Macbeth finally discovers his fate. After being told that Macduff had been, “Untimely ripped from his mothers’ womb,” describes the witches as “Juggling Fiends.” Macbeth is accusing the witches of deliberately juggling their words so that he could not understand them. This is a clever quote as Macbeth has just realised his life is in ruins, but the audience knew this earlier. The witches have changed Macbeth from a brave warrior to an evil, murderous, traitor, underlining the conflict of good and evil.
“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.”
This quote is significant as it illustrates the change in Macbeth throughout the play, now even the witches consider Macbeth to be evil. However, when looking at the path of destruction that Macbeth has left behind him it isn’t very surprising. Just one man driven by his ambition to be king has led to a chain reaction of murders
In Summary the whole play is about the battle of good versus evil; at the opening of the play Macbeth is fighting for good, for gracious Duncan against rebels, the witches mostly bring out the evil in Macbeth. Not only are the witches evil themselves but their evilness spreads to other characters throughout the play. I think there is little doubt that without the influence of the witches, Macbeth wouldn’t have murdered king Duncan.
