The Tyranny of Three: Misha Herwin
Three little pigs, three bears, three fairies in the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty. The number three seems to have a resonance that it almost magical, or is there something hard wired in the human brain that responds to a triple repetition? Religions all over the world centre round the concept of Trinity. The Christian Church worships God the Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost, while in Hinduism the Trinity is Brahma Vishnu and Shiva. In Classical and Medieval times the world was divided into Earth, Heaven and Hell and such is the universality of this concept that the Cherokee Indians had their Upper World, this World and Lower World. There is also the rhetorical aspect of the number three. When kids are taught to write persuasive essays they are told to use a word three times for maximum effect. For a writer there is another significant three, the trilogy. In theory a great idea, in practise very hard to pull off successfully. First of all, you have to get the balan...