English Literature Macbeth Quotes – The Weird Sisters

Act 1, scene 1″Fair is foul, and foul is fair”	– “fair is foul” means that what seems genuine is in fact evil, while “foul is fair” inversely means that what appears negative is actually positive.
Act 1, scene 1″When the battle’s lost and won.”	– contradiction in the statement shows unnatural- they have no alliances to either side of the men, it is the same to them either way which would have been unsettling to a Jacobean audience
Act 4, scene 1″Double, double, toil and trouble”	– trochaic tetrameter contrasts with standard iambic pentameter spoken by nobles- shows that they are supernatural and separate- they predict that Macbeth is in double the danger now
Act 4, scene 1″By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes.”	– The witches prepare for Macbeth’s arrival by mixing an unnatural brew in the cauldron. – During their incantation, one makes this pronouncement on impending evil (Macbeth).