The Role Of The Supernatural In Julius Caesar

The supernatural as the 'unnatural'

Consequently, unexplainable events and obscure beings of Shakespeare's tragedies indicate a diversion from God's natural order. They present the 'unnatural' in a sense of violation of certain established laws and norms, suggesting an inevitably tragic destiny for central characters, unable to deal with forces outside of their accepted reality (Randell 1976). Thus, for Macbeth, three witches and their occult powers, encountered in Act 1 and later in Act 4, conform to an image of abominations of nature, subverting moral principles of the protagonist. Other supernatural phenomena, such as Banquo's ghost or an air-drawn dagger, indicate an ever-present element of evil. Similarly, characters in Julius Caesar

are immersed in an anomalous atmosphere of superstitious omens and occurrences. As Clark (1931) point out, both Caesar and Brutus face perversions of the natural world, and are thus unable to deliver themselves from their tragic destinies.
Moreover, these indicators of a disorder in God's universe are accompanied in both plays by strange weather conditions and a dark atmosphere. Thunder and lightening forestall all tragic events of the plays, and all paranormal happenings are set in the darkness of the night (Bradley 2011). Hence, in Macbeth, an unruly night, blown down chimneys and 'strange screams of death,/ And prophesying with accents terrible/ Of dire combustion' (2.3.50-52) accompany the killing of Duncan, and, in Julius Caesar, Caesar's assassination is preceded by weather that leads Casca to state that 'either there is a civil strife in heaven,/ Or else the world, too saucy with gods,/ Incenses them to send destruction' (1.3.11-13). Therefore, thunderstorms, abnormal weather conditions and darkness are linked to all that is 'unnatural', linking the notion of a degenerate order, evil, an obscured vision and the wrath of God (Amuthenu 2014).