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Hallucinations and visions in macbeth
The significance of the supernatural elements in Macbeth
The significance of the supernatural elements in Macbeth
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In Macbeth, different supernatural phenomenon occur including: three witches, apparitions, and hallucinations. Each of these phenomenon have a role in Macbeth. The witches were the reason for this whole play and their predictions had caused Macbeth to kill King Duncan. The apparitions had the role of trying to warn Macbeth of his future. The hallucinations played the role of Macbeth's subconscious. The supernatural seems unrealistic but it the reason for the plot of this play. The supernatural role of the witches in Macbeth is they represent Macbeth's past, present, and future. When he first meets them, they tell him that he will become the Thane of Cawdor and become the king of Scotland and following that he is told that he is the Thane of Cawdor. They lead him to do things that he would not thought of doing on his own. The witches gave him the idea of becoming the king of Scotland, and with the convincing made by his Lady, Macbeth killed King Duncan to become the king of Scotland. He went on to have Banquo and his son killed so that Banquo's lineage could not continue. The witches were the reason the play took place. The apparitions were seen during another gathering with Macbeth and the witches. These apparitions play the role of warning to Macbeth about his future. There are three apparitions: an armed head, a bloody child, and a crowned child holding a tree. These apparitions tell of Macbeth's downfall and how he will loose the throne forever. The armed head is Macbeth's own and it represents beware of Macduff; the bloody child tells him that no man born of a woman can do him harm; and the last apparition of a crowned child holding a tree tells him that he is invincible as long as Birnam Wood does not move. (Billard) O... ... middle of paper ... ...hen Lady Macbeth and Macbeth would not have cooked up the idea of killing King Duncan. He would have also not gone paranoid that his friend would steal his throne and killed him. The apparitions had the role of warning Macbeth of his future and furthermore his downfall. The hallucinations gave the audience a taste of his inner feelings and subconscious and how insane he was. Most of the events that were predicted to happen would have eventually happened with out the schemes of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Works Cited Emma. "The Role of Supernatural in Macbeth?" Yahoo! Answers. Yahoo!, 2009. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. Billard, Amanda. "The Three Apparitions in Macbeth." The Three Apparitions in Macbeth. Shakespeare Online, 20 Aug. 2000. Web. 17 Feb. 2014. Meaglesham1. "Supernatural Elements in Macbeth." Supernatural Elements in Macbeth. Slide Share, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.
Without a general supernatural stigma from the witches, the story would not be as interesting as it is and wouldn’t lay a clear foundation. The reader can enhance their experience by making predictions about the prophecies, thus grabbing the readers attention to continue to read. The role of supernatural is to also create suspense. Suspense of the prophecies gives the reader a sense of what’s to come next. In contrast this will make the reader have motivation to continue as it is a difficult text to understand. The following quote creates suspense as it shows the reader Macbeth is at decline point while constantly relying on the prophecies to save him The mind I sway by and the heart I bear. Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear.
Apparitions were also involved in the telling of the story and helped to portray an eerie air. The Apparitions appeared in the first scene of the fourth act after being summoned by The Witches, “Come, high or low; / Thyself and office deftly show!” (4.1.71-72) As The Apparitions spoke to Macbeth about his future and his ultimate demise, the first witch warns Macbeth that the apparition can hear his thoughts so he should refrain from speaking to them, “He knows thy thought: Hear his speech, but say thou nought” (4.1.69-70). This warning gives off a feeling of fear and unpredictability that proves the supernatural world is beyond any human control or comprehension (Boyce 1). The Apparitions, along with The Witches, add a unique theme to the play itself, however, The Witches bring the theme to life at the beginning of the play and The Apparitions carry it through until the
Powerful in nature and curious to the eye, the witches in Macbeth were hooks of fascination. One never knew what would come next when it came to the witches. They possessed a dark authority and supremacy unlike any other and the temptation to ignore them was unfeasible. They brought with them gloomy days and evil thoughts. The witches could draw you in and begin to almost play with your mind if you let them. This is what ultimately led to the down fall of Macbeth. Collectively, the witches in Macbeth acted as a catalyst for all of Macbeth’s actions.
Everyone has a slightly different interpretation of the supernatural but the interpretation which we can start with is Shakespeare’s. Everyone of Shakespeare’s time found the supernatural fascinating. Shakespeare interpreted the supernatural as witches, magic, unnatural and evil and he expressed his beliefs in the play, “Macbeth” very clearly, as he portrayed the three deformed women with control over the weather and the ability to predict the future. These three evil witches with magical powers were the creation of Shakespeare’s interpretation of the supernatural. Shakespeare’s contemporaries believed in the supernatural very strongly and a majority of them were frightened of it, including the king of that time, King James I of England.
In the play of Macbeth we notice the works of how the supernatural can control or change
...two apparitions make Macbeth feel like his title as king is safe. He thinks this because Macbeth takes all of what the apparitions say literally and straightforward. Macbeth feels that it is impossible for Birnam wood to move towards the castle, this is ironic because the audience knows that the bark and branches from trees from Birnam wood have been used to camouflage the number of soldiers heading towards Macbeth’s castle. Macbeth does not think of it in this point of view, therefore making him feel very safe and confident about the war. The apparitions told warned Macbeth that Macduff is a threat to his title as king, and Macbeth took action by hiring murderers to kill Macduff’s whole family. Macbeth lies to the murderers and makes them believe that Macduff has been unfaithful to them just so that the murderers would go through with his plan.
William Shakespeare, in my opinion starts the play off with supernatural beliefs. The first of characters to speak are the three witches. I feel that the witches are a supernatural element that Shakespeare used. The introduction of the witches depicts the plan they had to meet Macbeth. I would describe the witches as a set of mysterious characters that plot mischief against Macbeth using things such as the apparitions. There predictions are what I think caused Macbeth to par...
Before an exploration of the actual occult, supernatural and other spooky things that happened in Macbeth, it is best to look at the history of witchcraft in the time and how people dealt with the threat of witchcraft. In the 1840s, Wilhelm Gottlieb Soldan believed that witchcraft was actually something that was made up by monks and that it was actually a non-existent crime while German mythologist Jacob Grimm viewed witches as “wise-women persecuted by the church” (Gaskill 1070). Soldan’s view is also shared by Daniel Fischlin, who “argues that witchcraft during James's reign was a constructed political threat to be punished in order that the king's absolute monarchical a...
These apparitions, if done right, could potentially be visually spectacular, having a serious impact on the audience, invoking fear and terror. These supernatural elements, combined with Shakespeare’s use of language and possible stagecraft, will have a dramatic effect on the audience as Shakespeare intended. In conclusion, supernatural elements feature throughout Macbeth, from the witches to apparitions and daggers. The only elements of the occult present in Macbeth, if we are to abide by the given definition, are the characters of the witches. In order for the dramatic effect that Shakespeare intended for the play to have on its audience, which it did in front of an Elizabethan audience, then a heavy amount of stagecraft concerning costumes, scenery and props will have to be applied to the performance.
The supernatural element also takes place when Lady Macbeth calls upon spirits to give her power to plot the murder of Duncan without any remorse or conscience. She says, "Come, you spirits/ that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/ and fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full/ of direst cruelty!" (1.5). Her soliloquy shows that she relied on the supernatural by asking for something unnatural to get rid of her natural feelings of compassion and make her cruel.
The witches have a strong effect on Macbeth's character; they highly influence him in his accomplishments and awake his ambitions. They give Macbeth a false sense of security with their apparitions of truths. Instead they prove to be harmful for Macbeth who takes too much comfort and confidence in his interpretation of the truths. They are the ones who plant the actual idea of killing Duncan into Macbeth's mind. But if it were only the witches prophecies, then Macbeth surely would not have murdered the king. 'When you durst to do it, then you were a man,' (Macbeth, Shakespeare Act 1 Scene 7) Lady Macbeth's constant harassment pushed Macbeth and made him commit all this evil. When you reason things out by yourself you tend to now what is right and what is wrong, a conscience. But with the outside influence from the witches he thinks that that is his destiny and he must do everything to fulfill it. One can wonder if Macbeth ever had a chance of doing what was right after he met with the witches. He is overthrown and killed. Through his own ambitions, the ambition of his wife and the witches' prophesies, Macbeth has caused his own destruction and downfall. We can now clearly see that ambition not achieved through our own ability leads to destruction. 'Hail Thane of Glamis and of Cawdor and shalt be King hereafter'. (Act 1 Scene 3) These prophecies from three strangers are taken without question and probably without good judgment. Just the thought that he may be King clouds his thoughts and ambition takes over. The witches can predict the future, they can add temptation, and influence Macbeth, but they cannot control his destiny.
The third apparition is a child crowned, with a tree in is hand. Macbeth is haunted by all his wicked deeds.
The witches played an undoubtedly large role in MacBeth, being the instigators of the entire plot. In act one scene three, the witches say: `all hail, MacBeth! Hail to thee, thane of cawdor! ... All hail, MacBeth, that shalt be king hereafter!' (Line 47-50) these prophecies throw into his mind the possibility of further advancement to the highest level of the nobility. If the witches had not told MacBeth of their prophesies, there is little chance he would have thought about them himself, and even less chance he would have murdered king Duncan.
The deliberately ambiguous apparitions play on Macbeth’s hubris and they make him feel so overconfident that he feels invincible and unstoppable. In his castle, Macbeth jokes that he will never fail “till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane” (V.iii.2) thinking that the apparition literally means that the forest will pick itself up and move to Dunsinane which he thinks is impossible despite all the supernatural events he has experienced. However, the forest does not move by itself but it does move to Dunsinane because of Malcolm’s ingenious strategy. As Malcolm approaches Macbeth’s castle with the English forces, he orders each soldier to cut off the branches of the trees of Birnam Wood to use as camouflage. This greatly contributes to Macbeth’s downfall since he was nowhere near ready for an invasion of the English forces. However, because of his hubris, he is still confident that he is unstoppable as he believes no one “borne a woman” (V.iii.6) can harm him. Unbeknown to him, Macduff was born through a caesarean section and thus not “borne” so much as “taken” from a woman. This lack of access to the entire truth sees Macbeth eventually
The supernatural was a popular element in many of the plays written in Shakespeare's time (including Hamlet) and everyone of Shakespeare's time found the supernatural fascinating. Even King James I took a special interest in the supernatural and wrote a book, Daemonologie, on witchcraft. It must be remembered that, in Shakespeare's day, supernatural referred to things that were "above Nature"; things which existed, but not part of the normal human life and unexplainable. The play Macbeth involves many supernatural actions that act as a catalyst for suspense and thrill, insight into character, foreshadowing of future events as well as making connections with the theme. In the opening scene of the play, the entrance of the three witches depicts the first presence of supernatural in Macbeth.