Page:Macbeth (1918) Yale.djvu/105

Macbeth of the Tiger. She admits later that it cannot be sunk, but perhaps she can reduce it to a water-logged and unseaworthy condition.

pent-house lid. A pent-house is an out-house or shed, with a lean-to roof affixed to the side of the main building.

weird sisters. Weird was formerly a noun meaning 'fate.' In Holinshed's History, from which Shakespeare adapted the plot of the play, Macbeth is said to have encountered 'three women in strange and wild apparel, resembling creatures of [the] elder world.' Afterwards, Holinshed continues, it was supposed that these women were 'the weird, sisters, that is (as ye would say) the goddesses of destiny.' Shakespeare has turned these personages into something like ordinary English witches, but his imagination was evidently impressed by Holinshed's more exalted designation of them.

Thrice to thine. These words cannot be precisely explained, but they evidently refer to figures in the dance. Possibly (for example) each witch circles three times in the direction of her left-hand neighbor, and then draws the latter back after her through three more circles. Or perhaps the words 'thine' and 'mine' accompany obeisances in honor of the witches' respective familiars.

noble having. The First Witch has just greeted Macbeth with present grace, the Second with great prediction of noble possessions, and the Third with great prediction of royal hope.

There is a conflict in the King's mind between astonishment and admiration. His wonders and his praises contend as to which should be bestowed upon Macbeth. The words 'or his,' after the comma, are added as an afterthought, and mean: 'or rather, they contend as to which better express the King's own sentiments.' The King's uncertainty reduces him to silence.