Upon her skinny lips. You should be women,
             And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
             (Shakespeare, Act I Sc3 lines 40-49)
             In the popular tradition, this serves to link them to the most marginalized members of the peasant society (the old and the deformed). In the elite tradition however, their appearance serves to express their hideousness as agents for evil.
             The behavior of the Weird Sisters also reflects both popular and elite conceptions of witchcraft. The appearance of the popular and elite traditions can be seen in the following passage:
             FIRST WITCH Where hast thou been, sister?
             FIRST WITCH A sailor's wife had chestnuts in her lap
             And munched and munched and munched. "Give
             me," quoth I
             "Aroint thee, witch," the rump?fed runnion cries.
             ...