The Supernatural in Hamlet and Macbeth

The Supernatural in Hamlet and Macbeth

In both Hamlet and Macbeth, the supernatural plays a very important role. Supernatural elements are crucial to the plot and they also have a more thematic part as well. Shakespeare presents the ghost in Hamlet, and the witches and ghost in Macbeth, as disrupting elements that not only enhance drama, but also tear apart the existing order of things. They force the title character of each play to undergo their own internal struggle that grows from their insecurity of living up to the image of a man.

First, let us consider Hamlet. The presence of the supernatural takes center stage at the beginning with a dramatic appearance of the ghost of Hamlet's father. Although the ghost does not speak, his presence is seen and already disrupts. It is in later in this first act where the ghost plays it's first and most crucial part. In Scene V of act I, Hamlet and his father's Ghost appear together and alone. The ghost says, "A serpent stung me, so the whole ear of Denmark/Is by a forged process of my death/Rankly abus'd"(I.v.36-38). The first seed of disrupting things (both Hamlet's identity and Denmark) is planted here. The ghost's words make it clear that his murder was not only a crime against him, but also a crime against the land.

The core of the play then unfolds from the actions and words of this ghost. Hamlet's revenge against his uncle is certainly fueled by the ghost's words, but the ghost seems to serve a more subtle and internal part here. In the famous "To be or not to be" soliloquy (III.i.55-88), Hamlet makes it clear his is not only unsure of what action to take, but unsure of himself as well. It seems his father's aberration confuses Hamlet ...

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...e serves as ghosts in the machine of the character's life. And it is that which really kills them or drives them to their death in the end.

Works Cited and Consulted:

Bloom, Harold. "Introduction." Modern Critical Interpretations: Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York City: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. 1-10.

Bradley, A.C. "The Witch Scenes in Macbeth." England in Literature. Ed. John Pfordesher, Gladys V. Veidemanis, and Helen McDonnell. Illinois: Scott, Foresman, 1989. 232-233

Goldman, Michael. Critical Essays on Shakespeare's Hamlet. Ed. David Scott Kaston. New York City: Prentice Hall International. 1995.

The Riverside Shakespeare: Second Edition Houghtom Mifflin Company Boston/New York G. Blakemore Evans and J.J.M Tobin eds.

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Edited by Norman Sanders. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984