Paradox
‘When the battle’s lost and won.’ is an oxymoron that could have 2 possible explanations. One reason for this is that the battle could be won by a side, but the cost is so high that the side also lost. It was not worth it, perhaps because of the massive loss of life or money. Another example could be that the sentence is describing both sides as if one side wins the other side loses. Another paradox is ‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair.’ This could mean that people are changing beliefs, and that something that was frowned upon was now approved, or vice versa. It could also mean that the witches have a different perspective to everyone else and that what they think is fair could be considered foul by other people. In the very first scene there is two paradoxes.