Under the Covers

" Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Let’s fly away through the fog and filthy air. " - Three Witches, Macbeth

               This line is one of the famous lines in the play that Shakespeare has written, Macbeth. It's the story about a man named Macbeth who easily believes and does what other people tells him to do. He believes all the omens that the three witches gave him and did everything just to fulfill it. But what does this quote have in relation to the story?

                 On his entrance, Macbeth ironically echoes these words by saying, " So foul and fair a day I have not seen. " He is referring to the foul weather and the fair outcome of the battle. These both reinforce the influence that the witches have over the weather and Macbeth. All that is good, " fair " to others is evil, " foul " to them, and vice-versa. This applies to both the physical and the moral world; they revel in the "fog and filthy air," and in every sort of mischief and evil-doing from killing swine to entrapping human souls.

               So it boils down to "good is evil, evil is good.". The chant I believe, is the theme of the play Macbeth. I believe the entire play revolves around this chant. That may be the reason Shakespeare introduces this in the very beginning of the play. It simply means that whatever is fair to the common man is foul to the witches and to the people related to them. And whatever is foul to the common man is fair to them.