Quote 1
THIRD WITCH
All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!
[…]
Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo! (1.3.53;70-71)
Tra-la-la, there goes Macbeth innocently walking along when all of sudden the witches show up to tempt him by talking about the awesome power that's going to be his. Right? Or are they just giving voice to his secret desire?
Quote 2
FIRST WITCH
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!SECOND WITCH
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!THIRD WITCH
All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter! (1.3.51-53)
Million-dollar question: are the witches (1) playing on Macbeth's ambition and planting the idea of murder in his head; (2) really privy to some secret info about the way things are going to go down; or (3) actually controlling fate in some way?
Quote 3
ALL
Fair is foul, and foul is fair;
Hover through the fog and filthy air. (1.1.12-13)
It sounds like the witches should file a complaint with the EPA. Jokes about pollution aside, the witches set us up here to mistrust everything. In the fog, it's hard to tell what's really there. Are they even there?
Quote 4
FIRST WITCH
I'll drain him dry as hay.
Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his penthouse lid.
He shall live a man forbid.
Weary sev'nnights, nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine.
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tossed. (1.3.19-26)
Here, the First Witch says that she's going to punish a sailor's wife by "drain[ing] [the sailor] dry as hay," which means that she's going to make the sailor impotent: no children, and no sex. Macbeth is definitely worried about male impotence—even Lady Macbeth makes a jab at her husband about it. Is that just a low blow, or does Macbeth actually associate sexual potency with masculinity?
Quote 5
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.[…]
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. (1.1.1-13)
The audience might not get a look at the stage directions, but all the clues are here: the women speak in rhythmic, chant-like lines (check out "Writing Style" for a close look at their language); they call out to their familiars—and, since "Graymalkin" was a common name for a cat, the audience would have gotten the reference, sort of like saying, "I come, Crookshanks/ Hedwig calls"; and, finally, they end with that creepy inversion: fair is foul, and foul is fair." Supernatural? Super creepy, at least.
Quote 6
FIRST WITCH
I'll drain him dry as hay.
Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his penthouse lid.
He shall live a man forbid.
Weary sev'nnights, nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine.
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tossed.
Look what I have. (1.3.15-27)
All the sailor's wife did was refuse to share her chestnuts, and now the sisters are going to make him impotent and infertile. You do not want to tick off a witch. (Oh, but those chestnuts? Sometimes a chestnut isn't just a chestnut, if you know what we mean.)
Quote 7
ALL
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. (4.1.10-11)
And… this is maybe the most famous line in Macbeth. Here, they make all of Scotland sound like some nasty brew that they're whipping up over their fire. But if that's the case—then why does good triumph at the end?