The Fate of Macbeth

By
"The Norns" by Johannes Gehrts, 1889
In act 1, scene 3 of Shakespears' Macbeth, the three Witches reunite, and discuss punishment for a sailor's wife who was too greedy to share a chestnut with one of them. In retribution, they curse the sailor to be lost at sea in a storm "Weary sev'nnights, nine times nine" (page 15, line 23), presumably meaning he will remain thusly cured for 81 weeks.
Is this meant to give the witches, who already have some resemblances to the Norns and Fates of Norse and Greek mythology, some further conflation with the Eumenides?

Comments

Post a Comment