Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair

"Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air" (1.1.11-12) In this context, Fair means everything that is good and beautiful, whereas foul means the opposite - all that is gruesome. Essentially, fair and foal means good and bad. This motif is introduced at the very beginning of the play when the witches wait to Macbeth to come back from battle. This is essentially, is a paradox. How can something good, also be bad? The chant boils down to "good is evil, evil is good."It undermines how uncompromisingly evil they are - to them, everything good and virtuous is disgusting, and everything loathsome and horrible is desirable. When the witches first introduce this chant, they are alluding to the paradox between Macbeth's nobel and "fair" nature, but as far as the witches are concerned, he is far from the average definition of "fair." The line, "fair is foul and foul is fair," also implies that the characters are not as they seem to be. Macbeth is introduced to us a nobel and brave soldier who has just returned form battle, but his intentions after meeting the witches are vicious. The witches are merely foreshadowing an incident that will happen. It really all descends into "What is good for you is bad for me, and what's bad for me is good for you." This comes into play when Macbeth murders Duncan; it was good for him, bad for the King. Whilst at battle, Macbeth is praised for his skills and nobility, but after he meets the witches and hears their predictions, he is led to commit evil crimes. We can no longer trust Macbeth as he appears "fair" but because of his crimes, he is "foul."