Act 1, scene 1
Scene 1
Thunder and Lightning. Enter three Witches.
FIRST WITCH
When shall we three meet again?
In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
SECOND WITCH
When the hurly-burly’s done
When the battle’s lost and won.
THIRD WITCH
That will be ere the set of sun.
FIRST WITCH
Where the place?
SECOND WITCH
Upon the heath.
THIRD WITCH
There to meet with Macbeth.
FIRST WITCH I come, Graymalkin.
SECOND WITCH Paddock calls.
THIRD WITCH Anon.
ALL
Fair is foul, and foul is fair;
Hover through the fog and filthy air.
They exit.
Analysis
Macbeth begins in “an open place” — a place without any landmarks or buildings — with the appearance of the three “weird sisters,” as they later call themselves.
The Old English word “wyrd,” or “weird” means “Fate,” which is exactly the origin of these Witches: They are the Fates of classical mythology, one of whom spun the thread of a person’s life, one of whom measured it, and one of whom cut it.
The bleakness of the scene is a dramatic representation both of the wild Scottish landscape in which the play is set and the more universal wilderness of man’s existence.
The Three Witches’ speech is written in short rhyming verse that imitates the casting of a spell.
The women’s language is also full of the imagery of witchcraft and of chaotic weather: thunder, lightning, rain, fog, and “filthy air.”
The lines “When the battle’s lost and won” and “Fair is foul and foul is fair” are the most significant in the scene.
On the one hand, these contradictory statements are the kind of riddles we would expect from witches; on the other, the lines suggest a paradox that runs throughout the play: Life frequently presents a confused picture of events in which discerning truth from falsehood is difficult.
Yeah, witches, spells, and filthy air. Just a few reasons I nearly flunked English lit. I used to argue there weren’t really any double entenders and dubble meanings. That whole classical writers thing, Shakespeare, Browning, etc. were mostly just a bunch of winos with vivid imaginations. For the most part they weren’t entertaining in their own time. The old bagovitch perfessor didn’t like me much. I knew she tipped her share of jugs also. Right out of Dangerfield’s “Back to school.”
HAHAHAHAHA@!!!