As stated by the great Polish Novelist Joseph Conrad, “The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone are quite capable of every wickedness.” (Brainy Quotes). Ah the supernatural, a silver tongued devil with the charisma of a spick and span car salesman. While many overlook the supernatural, this literary element can be the driving force in many stories that both develop plot, and hint towards the outcome of the story. Macbeth specifically has a large spectrum to which supernatural aspects are applied. Mainly these are in the forms of Prophecies, and or symbolic items. The supernatural elements in Macbeth play an importance in the plot and how the past actions of the characters affects the future. Due to the large …show more content…
One condition that plays an important role in Macbeth is the aspect of weather. Weather in Macbeth develops a sense of mood as well as help to maybe even hint as to what may come. “When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?” (Mac 1.1.2-4). Due to the fact that the witches will only ever meet in poor conditions represents their intentions to cause mischief. The weather within macbeth while being supernatural, also sets a clear vivid imagery for the reader to grasp on to. ”Fair is foul, and foul is fair; Hover through the fog and filthy air.” (Mac 1.1.12-13), this particular piece is a vivid example because the fog in the scene both has physical and symbolic meaning. The fog both blinds Macbeth from seeing if the witches are actually real, or if they are just an illusion of Macbeth’s poor mind. To which goes to the next point, that being the concept of reality. Macbeth sets a interesting plot that represents the demise of a once great person due to one minor flaw, Macbeth seems to have symptoms of granger as well as sociopathic thoughts that tend to dilute the concept of what is real. The utmost important scene includes the infamous dagger found in many shakespearean plays, “Is this a dagger which I see before me,The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation,” (Mac 2.1.33-39). Ah there we go, the breaking point of Macbeth. This scene represents the two sides of Macbeth, one being the moral one to which understands the evils of his soon to come actions, while the other represents the darker side of Macbeth with perverse characteristics. As well as the premonition of the dagger represents Macbeth 's plunge within the dark side, and
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
Without a general supernatural stigma from the witches, the story would not be as interesting as it is and wouldn’t lay a clear foundation. The reader can enhance their experience by making predictions about the prophecies, thus grabbing the readers attention to continue to read. The role of supernatural is to also create suspense. Suspense of the prophecies gives the reader a sense of what’s to come next. In contrast this will make the reader have motivation to continue as it is a difficult text to understand. The following quote creates suspense as it shows the reader Macbeth is at decline point while constantly relying on the prophecies to save him The mind I sway by and the heart I bear. Shall never sag with doubt nor shake with fear.
Murder, ghosts, and floating daggers are the usual attractions for most that read William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and yet there is an important theme that some might overlook. Written in the early 17th century, Macbeth is believed to be based upon historical events listed in Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles of Scotland and other current events of the time. Shakespeare constructs the memorable world of Macbeth with a mysterious and sinister atmosphere, incorporating diabolical elements into this world with the appearance of Hecate, witches, prophecies and ghostly apparitions. Throughout his story, Macbeth becomes controlled by desire for power, by allowing himself to be influenced, using evil means to gain and maintain power to the point that Macbeth is blinded to all else. In Macbeth, Shakespeare vividly demonstrates a recognizable theme of the weighty pull that power holds over those with authority.
and be great, but they didn't tell him the price he would have to pay.
In the play of Macbeth we notice the works of how the supernatural can control or change
" This creates a feeling of unrest and tension in the audience, as we can tell that the supernatural is going to be used in the representation of evil. Shakespeare constantly describes the weather - "The mist thins", which gives a vivid picture of the scenery and atmosphere. The gloomy, dark side of nature and the weather is always referred to; it seems that Shakespeare is trying to show how the weather is in union with the Witches, covering and hiding them when they wish to be unnoticed- "They stop suddenly, and a mist hides them. Enter Macbeth and Banquo." "The mist thickens.
The supernatural element also takes place when Lady Macbeth calls upon spirits to give her power to plot the murder of Duncan without any remorse or conscience. She says, "Come, you spirits/ that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,/ and fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full/ of direst cruelty!" (1.5). Her soliloquy shows that she relied on the supernatural by asking for something unnatural to get rid of her natural feelings of compassion and make her cruel.
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.
Fate and supernatural are inevitably linked, they manipulate and motivate the main protagonist, Macbeth to explore tragic hero traits. The supernatural aspect of the play initially causes hubris within Macbeth. His first encounter with the supernatural force is when him and Banquo come across three strange witches, who predict their future prophecies. After Macbeth is named thane of Cawdor, one of the witches prophecies, Macbeth experiences a sudden pride and arrogance, causing him to misinterpret the meaning of fate. Macbeth attempts to master fate, taking desperate measures to assure it follows his ideal path, instead of letting it play out. Yet fate doesn't operate in such a manner, he is constantly fighting against the witches prophecies,
Myths and religions often include divine or devilish beings with incredible powers. William Shakespeare incorporated witches with bizarre powers in his play, Macbeth. These witches possessed devilish powers to set the course of events in the plot and added to the flavor of the story. The witches' powers included omnientness, vision and apparition creation, and the ability to set the conditions for disaster, and the utilization of these abilities sets the movement of the play.
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.
In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the supernatural and the role they play in motivating characters is apparent throughout the duration of the play. The supernatural is what causes conflict in the play and the prophecies from the witches in act one scene three is the inciting action in the piece. The supernatural causes the future conflict by motivating Macbeth to kill Duncan so he could become king of Scotland. Through temptation, the supernatural motivates characters to think arrogantly and for their own benefit. The supernatural in Macbeth presents prophecies which tempt Macbeth and Banquo with the idea of power. This leads Macbeth to contradict his loyal and courageous personality by planning a treacherous murder on Duncan with the arrogant intention of becoming king and later killing other characters in the play with the only purpose of keeping his own powers. Both Macbeth and Banquo were also tempted by the original prophecies and showed clear motivation to act upon them. However, there is a clear contrast between the immediacy in which the two characters began taking actions and the logic put into their decisions.
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.
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.
In the opening scene of the play, the entrance of the three witches depicts the first presence of supernatural in Macbeth. The presence of the supernatural forces of the witches was accompanied by the dark, gloomy and thunderous ambience, perhaps functioning as a foreshadowing of future events that involves evil, wickedness and darkness. This is important as it gives the audience an idea of what might happen later in the play. For example, we see that later on in the play, Macbeth turned evil and wicked, killing an old and honourable King Duncan and a loyal friend, Banquo. I take particular note of the significance of darkness as it was later used by Macbeth when he calls upon the "seeling Night" (Act III. Scene ii. Line 46) which `makes clear vision impossible', as a way to cover up his evil deeds. Foreshadowing of `evilness' which is also a theme in the play is also created when the witches, before leaving the first scene, cried in unison that "Fair is foul and foul is fair" (Act I. Scene ii. Line 11). This line suggests and gives the audience a foreshadow that ...