The Wayward Sailor

The witches say they'll torture a sailor because of his wife's refusal to share. This goes beyond Act 1 Scene 3. In Act 4 Scene 1, Macbeth, who has completely changed his attitude towards the witches gives them commands, but does credit them with amazing powers. He states that they have the power to control winds and knock down churches and make ships impossible to navigate. The sailor tossed at sea and pushed by witch-winds is metaphorically Macbeth, of course. Macbeth is like Lieutenant Dan in Forrest Gump, though. He climbs to the top of the mast and yells defiance into the storm.  You go, Macbeth. Though Birnam Wood come to Dunsinane and MacDuff is not of a woman born. You go!

The Three Witches--Bad, Worse, Worst

This, my twentieth time reading Macbeth, I've noticed that the Weird Sister are three different degrees of characteristics. In the beginning, Firstie (that's what I'll call her) called Macbeth "Glamis" which is his present title. Second called him "Cawdor", a title that followed almost immediately, then Thirdie (you get the idea) called him "King", which took a little longer and involves much darker deed. 

Later, when they were making a potion, Firstie put in some poison, Second put in all the what is now stereotypical witches brew type stuff, ie, eye of newt and toe of frog..." Thirdie blows them out of the water with human body parts, dragon scales, shark and wolf bits. She seems to be the most hard-core.

Shakespeare's outlook toward the future is bleak. It's as if he could look into a crystal ball and see that as time progresses, society gets more and more complicated and disheartening. Follow this up with Act 4 Scene 2--the saddest scene in all of Shakespeare (see post).