In Act 1, scene I, when the witches respond as one: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair," they have set up the premise upon which Macbeth's quest for power that does not, by rights, belong to him, is based. For Macbeth will go against his better instincts, listening to his greed, but also to his wife, Lady Macbeth, whose amorality urges him ever on to his doom. For anyone of Shakespeare's time to upset, or undo, the social order, was punishable by death, and a fitting end for those who would make use not only of treason, but also of witchcraft, to further their aims, would have told the Elizabethan audience immediately that there would be a necessary punishment in store for Macbeth, or for anyone who dared to upend the "natural" order of what had been decreed or fated.
As soon as Macbeth starts meddling with the natural order, he is doomed, in other words. His power will always be "unnatural" and "illegitimate" because he was not born to the role. Many of Shakespeare's characters share a tragic end when they tempt fate: Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Shylock, in "The Merchant of Venice"; it is a recurring theme for Shakespeare, and any character who is shown to spit in the eye of fate generally doesn't fare well.
It's an interesting conundrum, because Shakespeare reveals himself as both credulous and skeptical at the same time. In many of his plays, you'll see this dichotomy explored in great detail.
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