In the Western world, due to the power of the church and the holy trinity, three has always meant something beyond the realm of numbers. Shakespeare uses the familiarity of this number, and all the good usually associated with it, to turn it upside down and inside out. How is it that one number can exist with so many different interpretations and understandings? How is it that three simultaneously associates itself with luck and good fortune but also with loss? Shakespeare's Macbeth (1606) explores the negative and positive connotations of the number three while subtly inverting its assumed positive meaning. Tracking its concordance, three seems to appear as forteous and good when used by itself, but in trios it transitions to possessing a
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Apparently, when one desperately wants something, the number reveals its qualities of good fortune, harmony, wisdom, and understanding. In contrast, Macbeth encounters the witches following a clap of thunder and the appearance of a second apparition: a bloody child. It chants, “Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!” And he replies with a plea, “Had I three ears, I'ld hear thee,” the witches respond, “Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth” (IV. I. 88-92). Though the three witches reek of danger and embody all aspects of evil, in this instant they seek to provide Macbeth with some insights. With forewarning, the bloody child screams, “Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!” In repeating Macbeth’s name three times, a shadow of death encompasses him and his future becomes very grave. Consequently, the witches attempt to warn Macbeth, “for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth,” in reference to Macduff whose mother gave birth via c-section. Regardless of this information, he remains insistent that he shall reign and ultimately be invincible. When he tells them, “had I three ears, I’ld hear thee,” three takes form as something to be wary of and unavailable. Macduff later fulfills the witches prophecy by murdering Macbeth, making three’s foreboding nature obvious in this instant. Macbeth willfully disregards his fate when acknowledging his lack of a “third ear” and the hearing it would
Apparently, when one desperately wants something, the number reveals its qualities of good fortune, harmony, wisdom, and understanding. In contrast, Macbeth encounters the witches following a clap of thunder and the appearance of a second apparition: a bloody child. It chants, “Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!” And he replies with a plea, “Had I three ears, I'ld hear thee,” the witches respond, “Be bloody, bold, and resolute; laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth” (IV. I. 88-92). Though the three witches reek of danger and embody all aspects of evil, in this instant they seek to provide Macbeth with some insights. With forewarning, the bloody child screams, “Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!” In repeating Macbeth’s name three times, a shadow of death encompasses him and his future becomes very grave. Consequently, the witches attempt to warn Macbeth, “for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth,” in reference to Macduff whose mother gave birth via c-section. Regardless of this information, he remains insistent that he shall reign and ultimately be invincible. When he tells them, “had I three ears, I’ld hear thee,” three takes form as something to be wary of and unavailable. Macduff later fulfills the witches prophecy by murdering Macbeth, making three’s foreboding nature obvious in this instant. Macbeth willfully disregards his fate when acknowledging his lack of a “third ear” and the hearing it would