Sunday, September 22, 2013

Fair and Foul; Foul and Fair.

"Fair is foul, and foul is fair."

My, my, what a very complicated quote by the three witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth. This quote is the central theme of the darkest story of all of William Shakespeare's plays. 
After having perused this for quite some time, I discovered that this is really easy to comprehend. This quote, at first glance, may look confusing, or rather will look confusing. Very understandable. And to make it simple, this quote of the three witches is simply that it pertains to the mismatch between reality and appearance. 

Such thing can also be said of an actor's job: he is to make himself seem like who he isn't, but who he's supposed to be for a particular play. He is not what he seems like, he is what he is, and it cannot be based on what he wants the people think of him, because it is just a facade of what he needs to be (otherwise he would be penniless). Minding not the seemingly fail humor, the meaning I very much want to express should be well expressed right now.

Now if we look back at the play, we would now see why the witches said the line about their prophecy about Macbeth. Fair is foul. What seems to be fair around other people is foul to them, because they "know", and vice versa. The play shows that the witches know the truth, and what others see is just the tip of the iceberg, much like when Macbeth won the battle against the Irish and the rebels.

So I guess I've said it all.
Fair day, I have won. Foul day, for the rain.
Fair is foul, and foul is fair.

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