Ernelo Das Mrs. Sunny ENG3U1 12 November 2015 The Supernatural In our society the supernatural and paranormal influences are not reliable. A core part of William Shakespeare’s plays Macbeth is the supernatural influence. The protagonist Macbeth is influenced by three main supernatural elements. The witches are the inciting incident in Macbeth they reveal his darkest desires, next Macbeth sees the dagger on the night of Duncan’s murder, and the last supernatural element the Macbeth encounters is the apparitions and prophecies. The witches reveal Macbeth’s darkest desires. They are the inciting incident; they act as a trigger to Macbeth’s madness. Macbeth starts to think about the witches’ predictions, Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and King of Scotland. …show more content…
Macbeth decides to act on the witches’ predictions and murder the current king Duncan despite trying to convince himself that it’s the wrong decision. “I am settled and bend up/Each corporal agent to this terrible feat. /Away, and mock the time with fairest show. /False face must hide what the false heart doth/know.”(1.7.92-96). In this quote Macbeth is speaking about how he has decided that he will use every muscle in his body to commit the crime, he also say that he will pretend to be a friendly hostess and hide his deepest desires. This displays how the witches’ prediction has altered his decision to kill Duncan, If there were never any predictions, Duncan may have not been murdered. The witches make another major appearance in Macbeth when he demands that they tell him about his future. At this point Macbeth is king and thinks very highly of himself. Macbeth has become a tyrant. “I conjure you by that which you profess/Howe'er you come to know it—answer me./Though you untie the winds and let them fight/Against the churches, though the yeasty waves/Confound and swallow navigation up,/Though bladed corn be lodged and trees blown down,/Though castles topple on their warders' heads,/Though palaces and pyramids do slope/Their heads to their foundations, though the treasure/Of nature’s germens tumble all together,/Even till destruction sicken, answer me/To what I ask you.”(4.1.51-64). In this quote Macbeth is demanding that the witches tell me what ever he demands in the name of whatever dark spirits they serve. If the witches never gave any predictions Macbeth may never have gained any power to become this ruthless tyrant. The Dagger is the supernatural element that points Macbeth to King Duncan’s room. Macbeth believes that he is imagining the dagger he rubs his eyes, it disappears for couple of seconds then reappears and leads him to Duncan’s room on the night of his murder. The dagger helps Macbeth, he is hallucinating the dagger, which leads him to Duncan’s death. “Is this a dagger which I see before me, /The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch/ thee. (2.1.33-35).This quote is speaking about how he is seeing the dagger in front of him with its handling pointing towards him. This supernatural element has its handle pointing toward Macbeth, he is having hallucinations. “To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but/A dagger of the mind, a false creation,/Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?/I see thee yet, in form as palpable/As this which now I draw.”(2.1.37-43). In this quote Macbeth is speaking about how he knows how he cannot touch it. Also about he knows that this is nothing more than something his mind is creating. Macbeth is acknowledging this supernatural element. He is aware that this is his mind has mislead him. This supernatural element symbolizes his obsession with becoming king. He is obsessed with the idea of killing Duncan to achieve the witches’ predictions. The dagger is another supernatural element that influences Macbeth to release his dark side. Macbeth demands the witches to tell him about his future.
This is when we encounter the last supernatural element in the play. Macbeth goes back to the witches to see if he will lose his crown. He needs to prepare for the future. The first Apparition is an armed head. “Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff./Beware the thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough.(4.1.81-82). This prophecy confirms Macbeth’s fear about Macduff. It tells him to beware of the Thane of Fife. At this point Macbeth is deciding whether or not to kill Macduff’s family. If this apparition didn’t tell Macbeth to beware of Macduff, Macbeth may have not killed Macduff’s family. The second apparition is a bloody child. “Be bloody, bold, and resolute. Laugh to scorn/The power of man, for none of woman born/Shall harm Macbeth.”(4.1.90-93). This quote speaks about how no man born of woman can harm Macbeth. Macbeth believes that this supernatural apparition is telling him that he cannot be harmed. The third apparition is a child crowned with a tree in his hand. “Be lion-mettled, proud, and take no care Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are./Macbeth shall never vanquished be until/Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill/Shall come
against him.”(4.1.94-98). Macbeth thinks the apparition is telling him that he will never be overthrown because Birnam wood can never move to Dunsinane Hill. The last supernatural element influence Macbeth in a positive way it gives him a bigger ego. He now believes he will never vanquish because Birnam Woods will never meets Dunsinane Hill. The main three types of supernatural elements change the entire course of the play. If the witches never gave any predications Macbeth never would have killed King Duncan, if the dagger didn't appear on the night of Duncan’s murder he may not have killed him, and if the apparition never existed Macbeth may never have been this egocentric. Macbeth would be a very different play if there were no supernatural influences. In conclusion the supernatural is in effect throughout the entire play, Macbeth may never have realised that he never followed any of the supernatural or paranormal influences he may never have died a brutal death. Work Cited Shakespeare,William.Macbeth.New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, Inc, 1992
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
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
The last person you would expect to encourage you to commit a crime would be your wife. Macbeth is motivated by his wife and by three Witches and gradually becomes more ruthless, evil, and murderous as the play progresses.
These actions highlight the women of the play as the greatest influences on the development of the plot and Macbeth’s demise. The three witches essentially lay out the foundation of the plot of the play in the prophecy that they present to Macbeth. Before their meeting with him, they already know how the Scottish civil war is progressing and how it will conclude. Because of their witchcraft, they know that Macbeth will soon become Thane of Cawdor, and also know how they can use this event to plant a desire for greater power in him, a desire for the throne.
and be great, but they didn't tell him the price he would have to pay.
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.
From the very beginning of the play, supernatural and unnatural forces have inspired and encouraged Macbeth. They interfere with natural events and completely change the character of Macbeth and his wife. Witches, apparitions, ghosts, and other unnatural images are used to demonstrate the evil effects and consequences those forces can have. Shakespeare is successful in telling his audience that only evil will come when Macbeth or any other person tampers with natural forces for personal gain.
The witches talk to animal sprits and talk about what they have been doing. One says that she was killing swine (Diseases of cattle were believed to be caused by witchcraft in Shakespeare’s day.) Another says that she will punish a sailor. The third witch says that she will help her to do it. They were all doing cruel things. Soon they would do a cruel thing to Macbeth which would end in his ruin and downfall. The witches await Macbeth on the heath, boasting of there powers.
The Importance of the Supernatural in Macbeth by William Shakespeare The supernatural is to play an essential part in the play 'Macbeth'; this is made clear from the first paragraph of the play, when the three witches are introduced. It is represented in many different forms, mainly: the witches, the dagger and the ghost of Banquo. Shakespeare's use of imagery and creative language in the play creates tension, fear and clearly displays the importance of the supernatural theme. At the start of the play, the supernatural is disguised in the form of nature, in this case a storm. Shakespeare uses pathetic fallacy to describe the strong force of nature- "Thunder and lightning - Enter three Witches.
Some pieces of literature are said to rely on the use of supernatural events to allow the plot to advance or to provide foreshadowing. An example of this would be one of Shakespeare’s plays, The Tragedy of Macbeth. Shakespeare applies many magical events, because it gives the play some more depth and to extract out the reader’s emotions. However, in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, a play also written by Shakespeare, while it does have a few moments, its uses are only intended for indicating how the amount of tragedy sums up and how affecting it is. Shakespeare is not only known for adding in unnatural events, but he also uses his own unique style of writing to express the story through his own views. Throughout the play, The Tragedy of Julius
to almost possess you is not a normal thing to do but the words do
The witches’ prophecies tempt Macbeth to begin walking down the path of evil leading to his demise. They are the catalyst that
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.
To conclude Shakespeare used the supernatural, to show how easily someone’s fatal flaw can be exploited to bring them to an end. This is extremely relevant to his audience at that time as well, no one knows, but Shakespeare could have been a non believer in the supernatural and wanted to show it as a figment of the mind, that can only result in insanity or he could have believed the popular opinion that the supernatural did exist and caused terror and evil throughout that period. Either way he wrote Macbeth in such a way to leave questions about the supernatural in peoples mind.