Fair
is foul, foul is fair
The motif
“Fair is foul, foul is fair,” is continuously demonstrated and used in act 1.
Essentially this motif means that appearance can be deceptive. The witches are
foul, but they give fair advice.
Macbeth seems like a hero, but he is a plotter and bastard. The truth of this
paradox is woven throughout the play, in how situations appear to be good when
in reality they are evil (or vice versa). All people have the capability of
being good and appearing evil as well as being evil and appearing good. After hearing their prophecies, one can say
that Macbeth considered the witches to be "fair" when in reality
their intentions were quite "foul."
In this act
it is first stated by the witches, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” The three
witches are the ones that reveal prophesies to MacBeth and Banquo about the future
and later confirm the downfall and tragic destiny of Macbeth. In act 1 scene 3
Banquo says to MacBeth, “why do you start and seem to fear things that do sound
so fair?” This shows that Banquos
character is a lot calmer than Macbeth’s character. We come to the conclusion
that Banquo goes with the flow and if what the witches said is true than it
will happen with destiny. Whereas MacBeth is so overwhelmed by their words that
he messes with destiny and he pays for the consequences. Again the witches use
this motif, “Lesser than MacBeth, and greater… Not so happy, yet much happier.”
This implies that fair is foul and foul is fair and with Macbeth’s ambition for
power; it is easier for him to appear good but really be evil.
My view of
Macbeth who is introduced as brave and noble constantly throughout act 1
changes when this motif is presented by him himself. As soon as MacBeth starts
to think about becoming king the first thing that comes to his mind is murder.
This motif gives him the idea that it is okay to be foul and fair as he states,
“Cannot be ill, cannot be good, If ill.” Although he is persuaded by his wife
Lady MacBeth he goes on putting on a happy face, when really he is in the
middle of planning a murder. He again uses it in Act 1 Scene 4, “Stars, hide
your fires, let not light see my black and deep desires.” MacBeth cannot let
Duncan see what he is really thinking, so he has to act rejoiced and excited. I
can see what is really happening, so immediately my view of MacBeth being noble
and brave changes. He is doing something that he knows is not right and
essentially he is breaking the boundary of manhood. MacBeth doing the deep
makes him disloyal to his king, even though his role (Thane of Cowdor and Thane
of Glamis) is to be everything but this.
Lady
MacBeth, who is Macbeth’s wife represents this motif when she is talking to
MacBeth about the murder. “look like th’innocent flower, But be the serpent
under’t.” She is persuading him to make it look like he is happy and
rejoiceful, but not to show what is really going on. From the start I did not
like Lady MacBeth as she has a really sneaky aspect to herself that constantly
makes me suspicious. She wanted the murder to happen from the very start even
when MacBeth was unsure. I find that
Lady MacBeth is going against society and pep talking MacBeth into doing
something he does not really want to do. This is demonstrated in act 1, scene 7
when MacBeth is very unsure about murdering the king, so Lady MacBeth questions his manhood and ambition,
essentially guilt tripping him into doing the deed. So Lady MacBeth succeeds
and we find out later on that MacBeth regrets it once he has killed the king as
he is states that he will never be able to sleep again.
