Picnic at Hanging Rock: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

As the four Appleyard girls take in the full sight of Hanging Rock, they are stunned and awed into silence by its hugeness. Marion says the peaks must be a million years old. Edith, who can’t imagine a million of anything, urges her to be quiet. Edith asks if they can sit down and look at the mount from their current position, but Marion says the three senior girls are pushing ahead—and Edith must too, since she begged to come along with them. Irma comforts Edith by assuring her they’ll all be back at the picnic grounds soon for some cake and tea.

Though Miranda warns Marion that they should turn back soon, Irma suggests they head up to the first rise. The girls are all struggling with the terrain in their boots and dresses, but soon they make it to a small rise from which they can look down on the picnic grounds below. The girls stop to rest. They take off their boots and sit in the shade gossiping. Soon, Edith says she isn’t feeling very well. She asks if any of the other girls noticed the handsome young man in breeches down by the creek. Marion tells Edith to shut up, and Edith begins crying. Miranda strokes her cheek. Irma, overcome with feeling and tenderness at Miranda’s kind gesture, gets up and begins dancing, imagining herself a ballerina performing onstage in London.

Irma’s reverie is interrupted when Edith gets her attention and points out that Miranda and Marion are headed barefoot up the rock. Irma, to Edith’s horror, picks up her boots and stockings and follows them. Soon, the girls arrive at the next even plateau. As they look down, Marion remarks that the people below them have begun to look small and purposeless as ants. The girls stop again to rest and soon fall asleep in the shelter of a large stone. A lizard curls itself in the crook of Marion’s arm, while a group of beetles crawl over Miranda’s ankle.

Edith wakes from her nap with a start. She calls out to Miranda, asking when they can all go back. As she looks up, she sees the three senior girls standing around her, looking at her strangely. Without answering Edith, the three of them turn and head further up the trail. Edith notices that they are hardly even walking—they seem to be gliding. Edith calls for the girls to stop and come back, but soon they are all out of sight. Edith, overcome by horror, begins screaming as she runs down the mountain.