The Supernatural in Macbeth by William Shakespeare

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The Supernatural in Macbeth by William Shakespeare

In ‘Macbeth’ which is written by William Shakespeare he includes evil,

witches and the supernatural.

Shakespeare wrote ‘Macbeth’ in 1605 for a Jacobean audience. In 1605

James I was the king and he was really interested in the supernatural.

He also wrote his own book called ‘On Demonology’.

Back in the early 17th century, basically everyone believed in witches

and the supernatural. Nowadays in 2005, practically no one believes in

witchcraft. In 1605, people didn’t know why things like illness and

drought happened, that’s why they thought it was witches. In modern

times, there are scientific reasons why things happen.

Shakespeare’s main examples of evil in the play are the witches, the

supernatural and the murder of the king.

In 1605, people believed in the divine right of kings. This is wgere a

king is appointed by God. Committing regicide (killing the king) was

seen as one of the worst sins in 1605 and that’s why Shakespeare

includes it in his play.

The play starts at act 1, scene 1. It is set in an open place with

“thunder and lightning”. The first characters that are seen in the

play are the 3 witches. This sets the tone for the play. It shows that

the play is about evil and has a dark side to it. The witches talk

about meeting Macbeth. They seek him out, they plan to meet him. So it

isn’t a coincidence when the witches meet Macbeth later in the play

because witch 3 says “There to meet with Macbeth”. In act 1, scene 3,

Macbeth meets the witches for the first time. The witches tell Macbeth

their predictions. They predict that he will become Thane of Cawdor

and then become the king. These predictions later turn out to be true.

Banquo, one of Macbeth’s closest friends is there at the time and the

witches predict that his sons will be future kings. In the same scene

Macbeth does become Thane of Cawdor. This ignites his ambition and

gets him thinking that he could also become king.

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