he guilt of Duncan's murder, although more present in Macbeth at first, has grown in Lady Macbeth until she began having the same insane visions of her hands getting bloodier and bloodier not ever coming clean. Another symbol in the play is the number "three". In Shakespeare's time, the number three was considered unlucky and the people, being quite superstitious, watched plays with witchcraft, murder, and ghosts much the same as we watch horror movies today. It might be interesting to enquire why today the number "three" is considered lucky and "ten plus three" unlucky. Considering this, one notices immediately the fact that there are three witches, the weird sisters, of the play.The first scene of Act IV contains a number of references to the number three.First Witch: "Thrice the brinded cat hath mew.d" (1)Second Witch: "Thrice and once the hedge-pig whin'd" (2)First Witch: "Days and nights hast thirty-one" (7)First Witch: "Pour in sow's blood, that hath eatenHer nine farrow;" (65)All of these examples refer to the number three, or nine, which is three multiplied with itself. The final example of the number three used in the fourth act with Macbeth's second visit to the weird sisters. There are three apparitions, which call Macbeth's name three times before they speak.The number three also came up in other contexts.Porter: "... drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things." (II,iii,23)On the surface, the porter's statement may seem like nonsense from a drunken fool, giving the play a break from the dark nature of the act, but there is more to it. In this scene, Shakespeare is reminding us through his combination of the number three and drinking that drunkenness plays a major role in the events of the act that unfold. For example,Lady Macbeth: "That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold,What hath quench'd them hath given me fire." (II,ii,1-2) The symbolism in the play includes that of light and darkness. Macbeth's insomnia re...
