The numbers seven and nine were mystical to almost every civilization in history, but nine is particularly important to the forces of evil. The witches, followers of Satan, would delight in inverting and reversing numbers and symbols, and 9 would invert to 6. Three sixes are, of course, the number of the beast.

Back to Macbeth (1.3)

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How to cite this article:

Mabillard, Amanda. Macbeth Glossary. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2000. (date when you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays
/macbeth/macbethglossary/macbeth1_1/macbethglos_seven.html >.