Macbeth's Tragic Downfall Portrayed in Shakespeare's Macbeth

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Recommended: The purpose of supernatural in literature

Shakespeare’s Macbeth is full of supernatural forces and events. These supernatural forces were a very big role in the creation of a suspenseful atmosphere as well as in the development of the character Macbeth. Additionally, they justified his changing personality, beliefs, and morals. The inclusion of prophetical witches, ghosts, apparitions and visions eventually led to Macbeth’s tragic downfall.

The very first scene of the play introduces supernatural forces in the form of three witches, also known as The Weïrd Sisters. These three witches met Macbeth and Banquo near Forres, where they then proceeded to tell them, mainly Macbeth, a prophesied fate;

All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Glamis!

All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!

All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter! (Macbeth 1.3.51-53)

These three witches met Macbeth and Banquo, “[w]hen the battle’s lost and won” (1.1.1-4). This is a significant detail, because it was the beginning of a pattern and an inveterate theme. When a battle of any form had finished, the witches reappeared. This is a key detail when analysing the importance of the supernatural in the play. These were times when Macbeth was curious, guilty or impatient and was in need of more answers. The witches reappeared, and provided him with the extra answers or encouragement he needed to fulfill his prophecy. However, when the witches left him with this fate, he got anxious and decided to pursue a means of fulfilling this prophecy. Macbeth’s only way to gain the throne would be the death of King Duncan and his predecessors. Due to the witches’ prophesies he was not very troubled as to how he was going to ensure these happenings. Instead, he went about formulating a plan to has...

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... he had chosen a path of evil and that these happenings were simply evil consequences of his evil doings. However, what he hadn’t realized yet was his connection to these supernatural forces and events. He had fallen unknowingly to these powers, and now was merely around the corner from his awaited tragic doom.

Almost everything that had happened to Macbeth leading up to his downfall was due to the supernatural forces in the story. Without the witches planting the idea that he potentially could become king (by saying that he would), he probably would never have even considered sacrificing his current and previous life in order to become the king. In the end, it only led to a tainted life and a doomed outcome. Without these paranormal things, there would be little or no motives to drive him into the direction he chose, which eventually led to his tragic downfall.

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