He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear / His hopes ’bove wisdom, grace, and fear. / And you all know, security / Is mortals’ chiefest enemy.
Act III, Scene 5
Context
Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, outlines her plan to destroy Macbeth by conjuring spirits that will make him overconfident. She explains to the three witches how she will manipulate him into believing he is invincible.
Analysis
The triadic verb sequence—'spurn,' 'scorn,' 'bear'—creates an ascending rhythm that mirrors Macbeth's future escalation into reckless pride. Each verb grows bolder, building toward the paradox in the final couplet: 'security,' a word that usually means safety, is reframed as the deadliest trap. By placing this abstract noun in such a concrete, declarative sentence, Hecate turns a feeling of safety into an active threat, making overconfidence itself the instrument of doom.
Essay Tip
Support a thesis that Shakespeare uses the witches not just to predict Macbeth's fall but to engineer it—this quote shows Hecate deliberately cultivating the psychological flaw (false security) that will undo him, complicating any reading of the play as purely about fate or free will.