三，此一數理對莎士比亞寫作影響甚深，在其戲文裡遍野開花，內涵耐人尋味。本文主要分成兩部份。第一部份嘗試耙梳東西文化語境對「三」的哲學性闡發，處理東西思想體系賦予數字三的定義，蠡探在東方《道德經》、西方畢氏數字學、黑格爾辯證法與基督宗教教義背景下所形塑三的哲學概念。第二部份針對三之於莎翁寫作的重要性加以論述。猶如「滋衍萬物」般，眾莎文本就這麼順著「三」的理路「開枝散葉」下去，生成各種運用。換言之，本文也將分析透過莎翁筆下的人與物品、景觀與意象、情節架構與修辭言說變現出來「三生萬物」的現象，表徵了何種美學意含。最後藉由三之義理在莎文本的多重創化開顯，與「究極真實」遙相映射，以重思莎作的普世性。

Almost all of Shakespeare's plays abound with concepts and patterns of triplet. And the recurring groups of threes are being manifested in his plot devices, character interrelationships, scenes, imageries, language, rhetoric skills, word choices, and dialogues. Certainly Shakespeare is not a pioneer by incorporating “number symbolism,” especially the idea of trinity into own writing. Both systems of East and West have had historical traditions of studying and explaining “number three” and its symbolic meaning by forming philosophies and metaphysics concerning triad since the ancient times. As we have found in examples of Lao-Tzu, or, The Tao-Te Ching, the Pythagorean numerology, methodology of “dialectics” accentuated by Socrates and further developed by Hegel in the 19^(th) century, as well as the biblical doctrine of “the Holy three-in-oneness” validated by the medieval Christian worldview. My study, in particular, begins with an employment and analysis of the theory of The Tao-Te Ching as a universal truth--”the Way/Tao begets unity; unity begets duality; duality begets trinity; and trinity begets the ten thousand things”--that transcends cultural boundaries and finds its reverberation in the West. By affirming the criterion “trinity begetting the ten thousand things,” or, simply put, “three producing all things,” my research aims to examine and discuss how the recurrence of the principle of three and an emphasis of the tripartite/triangular structure being “aesthetically” displayed in Shakespeare's texts.