the witches

• "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!"

  "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!"

  "All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!"


  In this quote, the witches are playing on Macbeth's ambition and planting the idea of murder in his head. This scene is very important for the whole play that it works as foreshadowing. Also, the prophecy is the major cause of Macbeth's tragedy. Macbeth's personality is changed because of the prophecy and nothing would have happened if Macbeth did not hear those three lines by The Witches.
• "Fair is foul, and foul is fair; Hover through the fog and filthy air."


  Shakespeare uses the phrase to show that what is considered good is in fact bad and what is considered bad is actually good.
• BANQUO: "You should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret That you are so."


  In this quote Banquo is not only acknowledging the physical flaws of The Witches, but is stating that they were unknown creatures who could not be a regular person like himself.
• "Lesser than Macbeth and greater."

  "Not so happy, yet much happier."

  "Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none. So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!"

  In this quote The Witches are saying that Banquo will never be king himself - as Macbeth will - but those in his line of descendants will be kings. In this way, he is lesser than Macbeth because he will never be king, but he is also greater than Macbeth because he will have children who will be kings.
• "Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff. Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough."

  
  

  "for none of woman born Shall harm Macbeth."

  
  

  "Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill Shall come against him."


  The first prophecy was a direct warning about Macduff, who would, at the end of the play, be the death of Macbeth. The second prophecy suggests that not a single man would hurt Macbeth for all were born of a woman. However, in the end, Macbeth learns that Macduff, whom the first apparition warned him of, was "untimely ripped" from his mother in a Caesarean section. And final in the third prophecy tells Macbeth that nothing could stop him until the forest of Birnam moved to Dunsinane, where Macbeth's castle was located.