A paradox is an apparent contradiction that reveals a truth. The witches end the first scene with a paradox: "fair is foul, and foul is fair."...

When the Weird Sisters say that "Fair is foul, and foul is fair," they mean that things that seem good could really be bad, and things that seem bad things could really be good (1.1.12). Macbeth recalls this motif when he says, "So foul and fair a day I have not seen" (1.3.39). In one sense, the day has been foul because he has been involved in bloody battles; in another sense, it's been fair because his forces have prevailed.

Then, when the Weird Sisters approach him with their prophecies, their words seem quite good, predicting a noble future for Macbeth; however, Banquo cautions him that

"oftentimes, to win us to our harm, / The instruments of darkness tell us truths, / Win us with honest trifles, to betray 's / In deepest consequence" (1.3.135-138).

Banquo doubts the motives of the witches, and he believes that they might be trying to appear honest in order to mask their manipulative intent and draw Macbeth and Banquo into cementing their own destruction. He is right. It does not take long for Macbeth to consider murder in order to make the prophecy come true.

Further, Duncan laments the way he was deceived by the old Thane of Cawdor, now a traitor. He says, "There's no art / To find the mind's construction in the face" (1.4.13-14). In other words, the old thane seemed like a good and loyal friend, but this facade concealed a disloyal and murderous interior.

After Macbeth arrives home and begins to plot Duncan's murder with his wife, she says to him, "Look like th' innocent / flower, / But be the serpent under 't" (1.5.75-77). She wants him to appear loyal and friendly, as he always has, and use this "fair" exterior to hide the "foul[ness]" of their plot against the king.

Even poor Duncan rides up and declares that "This castle hath a pleasant seat," complimenting the looks of the Macbeths' home (1.6.1). However, the castle's fairness hides the evil plan the couple is hatching to murder him. Moreover, he calls Lady Macbeth a "fair and noble hostess," which, if he knew what foul deeds she was plotting against him, he would never say (1.6.30).

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...

nouns - what do you call the person who passes the trophies to the prize giver/presenter?

The person who gives out the trophies to the winners are called award presenters. So what do u call the person who passes the trophies to the presenter? Thanks!

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.

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