“Fair is foul, and foul is fair."

The play “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare is written in very old English. This makes the play very hard to understand for those who do not speak in that way. At the end of act 1 scene 1 on lines 10-12 the three witches say together “Paddock calls. Anon! Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Hover through the fog and filthy air.” The section “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” is a very confusing statement. In modern day English this line means “Beautiful is disgustingly filthy, and disgustingly filthy is beautiful”. This line is foreshadowing events that are going to come up later in the play. It describes the difference between how someone is thought of and how someone actually is, in other words it predicts that Macbeth's mind will be taken by evil and will cloud his judgment, which to Macbeth will seem fair and just.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1lHYvxieB8