Quote 1
THIRD WITCH
All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!
[…]
Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.
So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo! (1.3.53;70-71)
Tra-la-la, there goes Macbeth innocently walking along when all of sudden the witches show up to tempt him by talking about the awesome power that's going to be his. Right? Or are they just giving voice to his secret desire?
Quote 2
FIRST WITCH
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!SECOND WITCH
All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!THIRD WITCH
All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter! (1.3.51-53)
Million-dollar question: are the witches (1) playing on Macbeth's ambition and planting the idea of murder in his head; (2) really privy to some secret info about the way things are going to go down; or (3) actually controlling fate in some way?
Quote 3
ALL
Fair is foul, and foul is fair;
Hover through the fog and filthy air. (1.1.12-13)
It sounds like the witches should file a complaint with the EPA. Jokes about pollution aside, the witches set us up here to mistrust everything. In the fog, it's hard to tell what's really there. Are they even there?