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The Witches' Imagery
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Act 1,
Scene 3
Lines 1-37

An explanation of the witches' imagery in Act 1, Scene 3 of myShakespeare's Macbeth. 

myShakespeare | Macbeth 1.3 Discussion: The Witches' Imagery

[A wasteland near the royal castle at Fores. Thunder and lightning, enter the three Witches.]

First Witch

Where hast thou been, sister?

Second Witch

Killing swine.

Third Witch

Sister, where thou?

First Witch

A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap,
And munched, and munched, and munched. 'Give me,' quoth I.
'Aroint thee, witch' the rump-fed ronyon cries.
Her husband's to Aleppo gone, master o' the Tiger.
But in a sieve, I'll thither sail,
And, like a rat without a tail,
I'll do, I'll do, and I'll do.

Second Witch

I'll give thee a wind.

First Witch

Thou'rt kind.

Third Witch

And I another.

First Witch

I myself have all the other,
And the very ports they blow —
All the quarters that they know
I' the shipman's card.
I will drain him dry as hay.
Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his penthouse lid.
He shall live a man forbid.
Weary seven nights, nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle, peak and pine.
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tossed.
Look what I have.

Second Witch

Show me, show me.

First Witch

Here I have a pilot's thumb,
Wrecked as homeward he did come.    
[Drumming offstage]

Third Witch

A drum, a drum.   
Macbeth doth come.

All

The weird sisters, hand in hand,
Posters of the sea and land,
Thus do go about, about,
Thrice to thine and thrice to mine,
And thrice again to make up nine.
Peace, the charm's wound up.
Video Transcript: 

DAVINA: After sneaking aboard a ship disguised as a rat, the witch intends to take revenge on the ship’s captain for the insult she received from his wife.

RALPH: Because she controls the winds from every direction – all quarters of the shipman’s card – she is going to keep him from reaching port for 81 weeks – seven nights, and nine times nine.

DAVINA: She doesn’t have the power to destroy the ship, but keeping it at sea for 81 weeks will certainly cause the sailor to "dwindle, peak and pine”. He’ll waste away and long for home.

RALPH: She then changes the subject and shows off a valuable object she has found: the thumb of a sailor drowned in a shipwreck. Like the slain soldiers on the battlefield, the sailor would not have received a christian burial, so the thumb can be used in a magical potion.