Macbeth Weather Quotes

Fair is foul, and foul is fair

Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 1. This couplet is chanted by the three Witches when they get together during a storm to talk about their future meeting with Macbeth. The incantation “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” is synonymous with the Macbeth drama. It sets the scene and tone for everything that follows in the play. It means that appearances can be deceiving and it foreshadows what will happen in the course of the play. What seems good will be evil, and what appears evil will be good. The words “fair” and “foul” are each a metaphor for the other. The “fog and filthy air” bad weather that accompanies the Witches suggests the moral uncertainty in Scotland and how characters are unable to distinguish between what is “fair” and “foul.”

Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-toss’d.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3. The witch plotting revenge on a sailor knows that she cannot destroy his ship, but she can call up storms to disrupt his voyage. This shows that while the Witches can use their powers to influence events, they are not all-powerful and cannot completely control a person’s fate. Foreshadowed here is how the Witches will influence Macbeth through their prophecies, but cannot force him to act. Macbeth by exercising his free will and through his own actions will end up dooming himself.
So foul and fair a day I have not seen

So foul and fair a day I have not seen.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3. Macbeth’s line echoes the incantation spoken by the Witches and which is synonymous with the play: “Fair is foul, and foul is fair.” Macbeth’s first words in the drama are significant. They may refer to the good outcome of the battle that brought victory to Scotland, also the foul weather on the heath. They also link Macbeth to the Witches, foreshadowing how he will come be easily led and manipulated by them.

The night has been unruly: where we lay,
Our chimneys were blown down; and, as they say,
Lamentings heard i’ the air; strange screams of death,
And prophesying with accents terrible
Of dire combustion and confused events
New hatch’d to the woeful time. The obscure bird
Clamour’d the livelong night: some say the earth
Was feverous and did shake.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 3. The Scottish nobleman Lennox remarks to Macbeth how stormy it was the night before, with chimneys blown down, cries of death, terrifying voices prophesying fire and chaos, and the earth shaking. These supernatural occurrences and havoc in nature show how the natural order has been upset by the murder of the lawful King Duncan during the night. The earth and weather are reacting to an unnatural crime. This is an example of pathetic fallacy. We also see foreshadowing of the discovery and announcement of Duncan’s murder.

I conjure you, by that which you profess,
Howe’er you come to know it, answer me:
Though you untie the winds and let them fight
Against the churches; though the yesty waves
Confound and swallow navigation up;
Though bladed corn be lodged and trees blown down;
Though castles topple on their warders’ heads;
Though palaces and pyramids do slope
Their heads to their foundations; though the treasure
Of nature’s germens tumble all together,
Even till destruction sicken; answer me
To what I ask you.

– William Shakespeare

Macbeth, Act 4, Scene 1. Macbeth uses weather imagery, when he demands that the Witches employ their black magic to answer all his questions, even if it means unleashing the most destructive storm. Macbeth cares about no one but himself and wants answers, even if the world goes through hell as a result. To get what he wants, he is willing to see winds topple palaces and pyramids, waves swallow ships and crops destroyed.
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