The three witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth utter what eerie chant?

This famous incantation is chanted by the three Weird Sisters in Act 4, Scene 1 of William Shakespeare's tragedy, *Macbeth*. The witches gather around a bubbling cauldron, adding a host of grotesque ingredients to their potion, including a "lizard's leg" and "eye of newt." This rhyming couplet serves as the refrain for their spell, creating a hypnotic and unsettling rhythm that has become synonymous with witchcraft in popular culture.

The chant is not merely for spooky effect; it is central to the play's plot. The potion the witches are brewing is used to summon a series of apparitions that will deliver prophecies to Macbeth. These prophecies are deliberately misleading, designed to give the tyrannical king a false sense of security and invincibility. The "toil and trouble" they are brewing is, in fact, for Macbeth himself, as their words directly contribute to his eventual downfall.

While originating on the stage, the line has become an iconic moment in cinema thanks to the many film adaptations of the play. Directors from Orson Welles to Roman Polanski have brought this chilling scene to the screen, cementing the chant's place in both literary and movie history. Its influence is so widespread that the phrase is now a universal shorthand for any kind of magical or troublesome concoction.