Parallels in English Literature
Prohibitions and taboos similar to geasa are also found in more recent English literature, though they are not described as geasa in those texts. For example, in William Shakespeare's Macbeth believes himself safe because "no man of woman born shall harm Macbeth." Macduff, an enemy, was "from his mother's womb untimely ripp'd" (i.e., born by Caesarean section) and was therefore not "of woman born".
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