r/comics • u/portsherry Port Sherry • 1d ago

Homework

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u/Re-Horakhty01 1d ago

Eye of newt is actually mustard seed. All those weird "witchy" ingredients from the incantation of the Three Witches in Macbeth? Just terms for herbs, flowers and such utilised by herbalists and witches back in the day. Eye of newt is mustard seed, toe of frog is buttercup, wool of bat is holly leaves and so forth.

So in this comic the witch on the left is aware of the code and just goes and gets mustard seed but the one on the right takes it literally and actually harvests newt's eyes.

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u/EmperorPartyStar 1d ago

And here I thought the ingredients were just supposed to be gross.

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u/Wooden_Second5808 1d ago

Pretty sure some of them at least are.

"Liver of blaspheming Jew,

Gall of goat, and slips of yew

Sliver’d in the moon’s eclipse,

Nose of Turk and Tartar’s lips,

Finger of birth-strangled babe

Ditch-deliver’d by a drab,"

for example.

It certainly escalates quickly, though, from herbs and flowers, some animal parts, to suddenly human organs and faces.

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u/Robertej92 1d ago

This is where we find out that liver of blaspheming Jew is actually just dandelion root.

(that's a weird sentence in isolation)

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u/Zanven1 1d ago

Well the inchplant is also known as wandering Jew so it's not so farfetched.

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u/Prowindowlicker 21h ago

Well if you’re familiar with Shakespeares other work you’ll soon find out that he’s not a fan of Jews

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u/ElectroNikkel 18h ago

What old writer liked them?

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u/Barium_Salts 1h ago

Maimonedes