Meaning & Analysis
The phrase refers to the Fates (or Parcae) of Greco-Roman mythology, three sister goddesses who were believed to determine the course and end of every mortal's life.
Insights
Inevitability of Fate
The sisters symbolize the absolute and inescapable nature of destiny. Their respective tasks—spinning, measuring, and cutting the thread of life—represent birth, life's duration, and death as predetermined and unalterable events.
Cosmic Order
As divine figures, the three sisters embody a cosmic or universal order that governs all existence. Their actions are not malicious but are part of a grand, impersonal design, suggesting that individual lives are subject to a higher, inscrutable power.
Human Mortality
The proverb serves as a stark reminder of human mortality and the powerlessness of individuals against the grander forces of life and death. To invoke the sisters is to acknowledge the ultimate limits of human agency.
Classical Mythology
Originating from the Moirai of Greek mythology (Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos) and the Parcae of Roman mythology, the proverb is a direct classical allusion. These figures controlled the metaphorical thread of life, making their invocation a powerful symbol of life's fragility and predetermined nature.
Literary Archetype
The proverb's use by Shakespeare demonstrates its integration into the Elizabethan worldview as a shorthand for destiny. It echoes in later literary traditions, such as the three witches in 'Macbeth', who, while distinct, draw from the same archetypal power of three female figures shaping mortal fate.
Psychological Personification
The proverb personifies the abstract and often terrifying concept of an unchangeable destiny. Giving fate a human-like form makes the idea more tangible, reflecting a psychological need to create a narrative for the uncontrollable forces of life and death, thereby imposing a sense of order on chaos.
Rhetorical Devices
Allusion
The entire meaning of the proverb rests on its allusion to classical mythology, requiring shared cultural knowledge to be understood.
Personification
The proverb gives human form (sisters) to the abstract concepts of fate, destiny, and death, making them more tangible and relatable.
Symbolism
The number three has ancient symbolic resonance, often representing completeness or a divine cycle (birth, life, death), which reinforces the Fates' absolute power over the entirety of existence.
Metonymy
The phrase 'The three SISTERS' is used as a metonym for the concept of fate itself, allowing a concrete image to stand in for an abstract force.
Transcription
Quotations
And sisters three did full agree, my fatall threed to share.
Shakespeare Citations
O Sisters Three, Come, come to me.
The young gentleman, according to Fates and Destinies and such odd sayings, the Sisters Three and such branches of learning, is indeed deceased.
Why then, let grievous, ghastly, gaping wounds Untwine the Sisters Three!
Cross References
- See Sm., p. 490.
Explanation
[The Fates, or Parcae.]
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.