The Empty Chair is a recurring theme throughout literature. I think I first became aware of it when I studied Macbeth at High School. It appears during the banquet in Act 3, Scene 4. All the guests see and empty chair but when Macbeth looks at the chair he sees the ghost of Banquo sitting there. In Arthurian legend, Merlin reserved the ‘Siege Perilous' at the round table for the knight who would one day find the Holy Grail. The empty chair below holds no such significance (unless it does – nothing means anything until you project your thoughts onto it). My kids were playing in the pool and for reasons best known to them, they submerged a poolside chair and took turns trying to sit in it. Then they took off and left it to me to recover it to the side of the pool.
The Empty Chair sits at the bottom of a swimming pool.
