HKB
In reference to Ygdrasil, we refer our readers to Norse Mythology, pp. 205-211, and to Thomas Carlyle’s Heroes and Hero-worship.
A connection between the norns Urd, Verdande and Skuld and the weird sisters in Shakspeare’s Macbeth has long since been recognized; but new light has recently been thrown upon the subject by the philosopher Karl Blind, who has contributed valuable articles on the subject in the German periodical “Die Gegenwart” and in the “London Academy.” We take the liberty of reproducing here an abstract of his article in the “Academy”:
The fact itself of these Witches being simply transfigurations, or later disguises, of the Teutonic Norns is fully established--as may be seen from Grimm or Simrock. In delineating these hags, Shakspeare has practically drawn upon old Germanic sources, perhaps upon current folk-lore of his time.
It has always struck me as noteworthy that in the greater part of the scene between the Weird Sisters, Macbeth and Banquo, and wherever the Witches come in, Shakspeare uses the staff-rime in a remarkable manner. Not only does this add powerfully to the archaic impressiveness and awe, but it also seems to bring the form and figure of the Sisters of Fate more closely within the circle of the Teutonic idea. I have pointed out this striking use of the alliterative system in Macbeth in an article on “An old German Poem and a Vedic Hymn,” which appeared in Fraser in June, 1877, and in which the derivation of the Weird Sisters from the Germanic Norns is mentioned.
The very first scene in the first act of Macbeth opens strongly with the staff-rime:
1st Witch. When shall we three meet again-- In thunder, lightning or in rain?
2d Witch. When the hurly-burly’s done, When the battle’s lost and won.
3d Witch. That will be ere set of sun.
1st Witch. Where the place?
2d Witch. Upon the heath.
3d Witch. There to meet with Macbeth.
1st Witch. I come, Graymalkin!
All. Paddock calls. Anon. Fair is foul, and foul is fair. Hover through the fog and filthy air.
Not less marked is the adoption of the fullest staff-rime--together (as above) with the end-rime--in the third scene, when the Weird Sisters speak. Again, there is the staff-rime when Banquo addresses them. Again, the strongest alliteration, combined with the end-rime, runs all through the Witches’ spell-song in Act iv, scene 1. This feature in Shakspeare appears to me to merit closer investigation; all the more so because a less regular alliteration, but still a marked one, is found in not a few passages of a number of his plays. Only one further instance of the systematic employment of alliteration may here be noted in passing. It is in Ariel’s songs in the Tempest, Act i, scene 2. Schlegel and Tieck evidently did not observe this alliterative peculiarity. Their otherwise excellent translation does not render it, except so far as the obvious similarity of certain English and German words involuntarily made them do so. But in the notes to their version of Macbeth the character of the Weird Sisters is also misunderstood, though Warburton is referred to, who had already suggested their derivations from the Valkyrs or Norns.
It is an error to say that the Witches in Macbeth “are never called witches” (compare Act i, scene 3: “‘Give me!’ quoth I. ‘A-roint thee, witch!’ the rump-fed ronyon cries”). However, their designation as Weird Sisters fully settles the case of their Germanic origin.
This name “Weird” is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Norn Wyrd (Sax. Wurth; O.H. Ger. Wurd; Norse, Urd), who represents the Past, as her very name shows. Wurd is die Gewordene--the “Has Been,” or rather the “Has Become,” if one could say so in English.