"Fair is foul, and foul is fair"- Explain.

This line occurs in the very  opening scene of Macbeth. It is uttered by the three witches gathered in an open place in the Stormy weather when they should meet again. This line may be regarded as the  first statement of the one of main themes of the play "The reversal of value."

      This line reveals the very creed,the guiding principle of these  abnormal and Obnoxious creature. The witches do not belong to the normal human world. Foul weather to human being is a thing of delight for them. The Supernatural elements maliciously meddle with human affairs and lead human being to disasters and ultimate death through sinful ways.

             Shakespeare's main intention is to bring our attention immediately to the tragic tone of the drama: " In Macbeth", wrote Coleridge, "the poet's object was to raise the mind at once to the high tragic tone ......the true reason for the first appeared of the witches is to strike the keynote of the character of the whole drama."  This line strikes the character of the witches whom Shakespeare has represented as " the instruments of darkness".They are "the lawless of human nature". They introduce us to a topsy-turvy world where values are perverted and reversed. The Macbeth's world is a strange one where "Good things of day begin to droop and drowse" and "night's black agents to their preys do rouse".

                the line also sets the atmosphere of abnormal evil which dominates the play. The tempestuous soul, full of criminal thoughts and evil desire is the favourite choice for the witches. They are actually comparable to Satan in Paradise Lost who cries out:" Evil be thou my good." The statement of Macbeth in Act1Sc3 " So foul and fair a day I have not seen" suggests that there is an inner connection between the witches and Macbeth as the words 'fair' and 'foul' are re-echoed by Macbeth.