explain this quote
fair is foul and foul is fair
2007-11-21 14:01:15 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Quotations
It's to do with the theme of reversed values and order turned to disorder. The witches are the equivocators in 'Macbeth', and I suppose their role in the play could sort of be summed up by this line. Literally it means when good is bad and bad is good, so things that would usually be seen as good become bad and vice versa. It could also be seen as foreshadowing, as I said above one of the themes of "Macbeth" is the reversal of values and this line sort of tells the audience what will happen later on. Macbeth starts off the play as a good man, who is well respected by his peers, but by the end he is corrupted by evil and ambition and becomes "bad" or "foul". It's also a paradox that helps to develop the witches' characters, they're the agents of evil that set out to make foul things fair.
2007-11-22 00:13:16 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's how the witches feel. They feel that everything fair is foul to them (as they are evil) and that anything foul they do is fair.
2007-11-21 23:38:39 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It means that the witches are turning traditional values upside down--what seems good or beautiful ("fair") to most people is bad and ugly ("foul") to them, and vice versa.
2007-11-21 23:29:15 · answer #3 · answered by aida 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
he's talking about inner beauty vs outer beauty. You know, the prettiest person is usually the most spoiled, vain, and self centered while the plainer person has a heart of gold, places others ahead of himself, thinks more of how his actions/words affect others.
2007-11-21 22:10:15 · answer #4 · answered by jestduck1 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋