And be these juggling fiends no more believed,
That palter with us in a double sense.
– William Shakespeare
Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 8. Macbeth speaks about the trickery of the devil Witches, only now realizing that they deceived him with their double meanings. Demoralized at this stage he compares the Witches in a metaphor to “juggling fiends.” For Macbeth to call the Witches evil devils is ironic and a bit like the kettle calling the pot black.