Scene summary
In thunder and lightning, The Witches arrange their next meeting: after the end of the battle, before sunset, on the marsh, where they will come upon Macbeth. One answers the call of the gray cat, and all answer the croaking toad, and the scene ends with a chorus line that mixes the beautiful and the rotten.
Analysis
The scene does not say why the Witches seek Macbeth, only when and where: after the battle, before sunset, on the marsh. The silence leaves two readings open. They seek the man who already carries the desire and test him. Or the meeting is what makes the desire be born. The final verse, with the beautiful and the rotten swapped, warns that the day’s victory will have a reverse side.
All the witches: Fair is foul, and foul is fair: / Hover through the fog and filthy air.
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