Quest 175

[primrosella]

Comments

[misterblackbird]

You know I don't believe in signs, Rosella.

[primrosella]

And yet you're making ready for whatever might be coming in the days ahead, just the same as I am. Though I suppose you'll say it's not that you believe in signs, it's simply that you're speaking from experience, hmm?

[misterblackbird]

I like to think of it more like reading the weather. That's hardly signs, omens, or portents.

[primrosella]

Well, yes, but having Hamlet or Lear sitting around reading the weather doesn't make for a very good story at all.

[misterblackbird]

But, then, that's only a story.

[primrosella]

Oh, fine, go and ruin all my fun. And I was going to quote more Shakespeare at you, too.

[misterblackbird]

I was going to remind you of Julius Caesar, of course--

I wouldn't object to more, of course.

[primrosella]

"By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes"?

It's been a while since I reread the tragedies, but all the anticipation of bad things to come is starting to put me in the mood for it, I think.

[misterblackbird]

I rather wonder if the witches weren't orchestrating the whole thing. Or if Macbeth listened to what he wanted to hear--or his queen, rather.

I'm surprised you've read the tragedies. You seem rather the type to prefer the comedies and the romances.

[primrosella]

Just for the sake of causing trouble, you mean, by putting ideas into Macbeth's head? It's certainly a possibility.

I do, but just the same, it's terribly hard to read only part of a whole book. And I had a copy of the Complete Works back at home, so once I got through the comedies, I ended up going back and reading the tragedies, as well.

[misterblackbird]

Yes, precisely. Perhaps they were on the other side all along. I've no idea what loyalties witches have.

I see. Well, that does explain it.

[primrosella]

That depends entirely on which witch is which, I think. Back home, witches are always evil because you have to be evil to be called a witch. It wasn't until I came here that I realized there can be such things as good witches, too, and sometimes names are just names.

I used to act them out, too. I was quite the thespian in my early years, you know.

[misterblackbird]

Yes, I happen to be very closely acquainted with one such good witch. And, so far as she goes, I think she chooses her own loyalties, for whatever that says for Macbeth.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.

[primrosella]

Assuming we're thinking of the same one, I imagine you're right about that.

I always played the heroine, too, I'll have you know. Well, and most of the other parts, too, but that was only because I usually didn't have anyone else around to fill them for me. But when I did, I was always the heroine.

[misterblackbird]

I think we may be thinking of the same one.

You didn't simply imagine the rest of the characters? That would have been simpler, I'd say.

[primrosella]

I think so, too, since I can't imagine you associate with very many witches.

Oh, there was plenty of imagining involved, believe me. But it wasn't quite the same without voices, and besides, the best speeches usually go to the heroes, not the heroines. Hamlet does get some of the best lines of anyone in his play, after all.