GCSE English Literature

Witches Quotes5 essential quotes with full analysis.

Complete collection of the Witches' most important quotes for GCSE English Literature, including their prophecies, incantations, and appearances.

About the Witches (Weird Sisters)

The Three Witches, also called the “Weird Sisters,” are supernatural beings who open the play with their famous chant. They represent evil, chaos, and the disruption of the natural order. Their prophecies set the plot in motion by awakening Macbeth's ambition.

Shakespeare's audience genuinely believed in witchcraft - King James I himself wrote a book about it. The Witches embody the play's central question: do they control Macbeth's fate, or merely reveal desires already within him? Their paradoxical language (“fair is foul”) introduces the theme of moral confusion that pervades the play.

SupernaturalFateEvilProphecyAmbiguity

All Witches Quotes

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair”
WitchesAct 1, Scene 1
Appearance vs RealitySupernaturalEvilChaos

Context: The witches' chant in the opening scene of the play.

Analysis

This paradox establishes the play's moral confusion from the very first scene. The chiasmus creates a sense of inversion and disorder. It suggests the natural order is disrupted and nothing is as it seems. The trochaic tetrameter differs from the play's usual iambic pentameter, marking the witches as unnatural.

Language Techniques:

ParadoxChiasmusTrochaic tetrameter

Exam Tip

Link to James I's Daemonologie and fears about witchcraft. This motto echoes throughout the play.

“All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!”
WitchesAct 1, Scene 3
ProphecyFateAmbitionSupernatural

Context: The third witch prophesies Macbeth's kingship.

Analysis

This prophecy ignites Macbeth's ambition. "Hereafter" is deliberately vague - it doesn't say how or when. The witches don't command murder, merely predict kingship. Macbeth chooses the path of violence. The prophecy tests whether he will wait for fate or force it.

Language Techniques:

ProphecyAmbiguityTriadic structure

Exam Tip

Debate: do witches cause Macbeth's actions or merely predict them? Key for fate vs free will essays.

“Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble”
WitchesAct 4, Scene 1
SupernaturalEvilChaos

Context: The witches prepare their cauldron before Macbeth arrives.

Analysis

The trochaic rhythm differs from the play's iambic pentameter, marking the witches as unnatural. The rhyming couplets and repetition create an incantatory, spell-like effect. "Double" suggests duplicity and multiplication of evil. The brew symbolises Scotland's corruption under Macbeth.

Language Techniques:

Trochaic tetrameterRhymeIncantationRepetition

Exam Tip

The witches' distinctive rhythm sets them apart from human characters. Link to James I's interest in witchcraft.

“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes”
Second WitchAct 4, Scene 1
EvilSupernaturalTransformation

Context: A witch senses Macbeth approaching.

Analysis

The witch calls Macbeth "wicked" - he has become evil enough for witches to recognise. The physical "pricking" suggests supernatural intuition. By Act 4, Macbeth has transformed from victim of prophecy to embodiment of wickedness. Even the witches acknowledge his corruption.

Language Techniques:

Rhyming coupletSensory imageryCharacterization

Exam Tip

Key turning point - Macbeth is now called wicked by evil itself. Shows his complete moral degradation.

“None of woman born shall harm Macbeth”
Apparition (Witches)Act 4, Scene 1
ProphecyDeceptionFate

Context: The second apparition gives Macbeth false confidence.

Analysis

This prophecy seems to guarantee Macbeth's safety but is deliberately equivocal. Macduff's Caesarean birth means he was technically not "born" of woman. The witches' predictions are technically true but designed to mislead. Macbeth's arrogant interpretation seals his doom.

Language Techniques:

EquivocationDramatic ironyDouble meaning

Exam Tip

Perfect example of equivocation - a key contemporary concern linked to the Gunpowder Plot.

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