---1592, time of the plague, witches being burned and hanged and a big belief in evil spirits, but he never goes against what the monarchy of the time believes? In searching for what to write on for the topic of “supernatural,” we figured that, since this is an English class, it would be interesting to write about the use of supernatural in literature. One of the greatest examples of this would be the plays and writings of William Shakespeare. Of all of these works, there are hundreds of allusions to the supernatural and mythology. We, though, are only going to focus on a few. A few great examples of the use of the supernatural in Shakespeare’s writings include Richard III, Macbeth, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Before telling you about
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In this play, the key element is the supernatural force of the ghost of King Hamlet, Hamlet’s father. He makes his entrance right from the beginning, appearing before the watchmen of the castle and then Horatio, a friend of Hamlet’s. Once Hamlet is brought to the apparition, the ghost begins to speak and claims that he is indeed the ghost of the king and that he wants Hamlet to seek revenge on Claudius, his brother, who murdered him to take the throne and marry his widow, Gertrude. This becomes the guiding force behind Hamlet’s actions throughout the play and is often seen as a sense of foreshadowing for an ominous future for Denmark. Instead of just believing what his father’s ghost tells him, Hamlet goes out of his way to try to prove his uncle’s guilt before taking any course of action. Hamlet eventually turns into a bit of a madman, stabbing Polonius, the father of Ophelia, his potential wife. This causes her descent into madness and eventual suicide. The play is very dark and shows Hamlet as having a deep obsession with death and suicide. The apparition in this play is once again a type of revenge spirit, like we saw in Richard III, and seems to only be seen by those who are innocent- meaning, his own wife, Gertrude, was unable to see the ghost because of her possible involvement in his death. Once again, many dark themes within this play that seems to …show more content…
They were written during a time when the population’s fascination of the supernatural seemed to be at its peak. Shakespeare also uses witchcraft and witches, spirits raisings and demons and the pantheon of Greek and Roman gods in many of his other works, and even angels appear in Henry VIII. The ghosts in his stories tend to be dignified presences, not the type to rattle chains and screech at you, and are often those of the betrayed and murdered. All of these supernatural aspects seem to have a reason for being in the play and tend to spur the storyline on.
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The Effectiveness of William Shakespeare's Use of Supernatural in the Final Act of Richard III
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In Shakespeare’s time, 1564-1616, practicing Catholicism was illegal in England. Some historians have claimed that William Shakespeare was Catholic and hid this fact out of fear of persecution. Others go as far as to say that Shakespeare shaped parts of his plays after his own Catholic beliefs. Between Shakespeare’s youth upbringing, education, and the availability of Catholic literature, William Shakespeare had a basis if not a belief in the Catholic faith.
The themes of love, supernatural, and tragedy in Macbeth make this tale loved by many. The supernatural ideas are most noteworthy and dramatic. Witches, apparitions, and hallucinations give the play the sense of the unknown. Shakespeare used the supernatural occurrences and witches to show humans wickedness and depravity. The characters in this play were not at all hesitant to do evil acts once prophecies had been given showing their innermost desires come true. In the end, while the prophecies may have come to fruition, it was not how the characters had anticipated.
Sharpe, James. Instruments of Darkness: Witchcraft in Early Modern England. Paperback Edition. Philiadephia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997.
Dobson, Michael. “Twelfth Night” in The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Cohen, Walter, J.E. Howard, K. Eisaman Maus. The Norton Shakespeare. Vol. 2 Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor. New York, London. 2008. ISBN 978-0-393-92991-1
"Witchcraft." Renaissance: An Encyclopedia for Students. Ed. Paul F. Grendler. Vol. 4. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004. 171-73. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 4 May 2014.
In the English Renaissance, there was a strong belief in the existence of the supernatural. Thus, the supernatural is a recurring aspect in William Shakespeare 's Macbeth and is an integral and important part of the plot. The role of the supernatural in Macbeth is to bring out emotional reactions within Macbeth that cloud his judgement, affecting his actions which ultimately leads to his downfall. This is demonstrated through the ambiguous prophecies of the witches, the supernatural phenomenon that Macbeth sees, and the apparitions that foreshadow how he will meet his end.
This essay explores the research question “In what ways does the use of supernatural elements in literature serve to reflect the nature of humanity?” and focuses on fairy tales, Hamlet, and Macbeth. It begins by outlining and examining the role of supernatural elements in promoting struggles between both the characters and groups within the plot. It then proceeds to showcase how using these elements to create struggles within the plot helps the author to outline the societal struggles of his or her time period within the work of literature. This essay then goes on to consider how and why the use of supernatural elements plays a role in a literary work’s adaptability over time and region. From there, this essay explores how important supernatural elements are in making the stories that they are a part of more intricate and interesting. The role of supernatural elements in aiding character development and the role of certain characters within the plot is examined afterwards.
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 supernatural and written 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 Shakespearean era, there was an eruption of superstition and alleged witchcraft. The people of that time had strong hatred for the ‘devil worshiping’ witches and had various trials and tests to determine their fate. Shakespeare used this as inspiration for his play ‘Macbeth’