Supernatural Events In Macbeth

The supernatural is known to be a paranormal force that goes beyond any kind of

scientific belief, known to mostly occur with the deceased. Since plays were not as civilized in

the 16th century as they are today and audiences did not seem to pay attention so significant

events had to be repeated several times to get the idea across to the audience. In the 16th century

masterpiece of Macbeth written by William Shakespeare, he had incorporated these supernatural

events/figures into the plot of this play to remind audiences that a death has transpired.

Supernatural occurrences greatly contributes to the meanings of the deaths of the characters and

signifies the idea that everything happens for a reason in Macbeth. Supernatural beings

The witches had introduced the atmosphere and the plot to the whole play and

has give its structure to the story line. Macbeth had been given his prophecies by the witches to

determine his fate. The first which had “[hailed Macbeth] to…Thane of Glamis” (Act 1, Scene 3,

Line 51), the second witch “hailed Macbeth] to… Thane of Cawdor”(Act 1, Scene 3, Line 52),

and the third witch “...[claimed] that [Macbeth]...shalt be king hereafter.”(Act 1, Scene 3, Line

53) Each witch had presented their own prophecy for Macbeth. The first witch represents the

past, the second witch represents the present, and the third witch represents the future. These

paranormal beings are the triggering moment for all upcoming evil schemes for Macbeth to

attain and achieve power to become king of Scotland. As Macbeth receives his prognostications,

Banquo receives some of his own. They are “not so happy, yet much happier.”(Act 1, Scene 3,

Line 69) In the long run, Banquo’s prophecy was essentially better than Macbeth’s due to the fact

that Banquo’s is more of a natural occurrence since it does not involve any type of

These apparitions “...focus on [the]...leadership [role of Macbeth]...[and they are not]

decisive... [to whether he will end up with] success or failure [for] numerous activities.” (Khalid,

paragraph 2) Macbeth wants to hear that he is still going to be in control and to get reassurance

of his destiny as king. In that time frame, witches were believed to be real, magical and powerful

beings who were out of the norm supernatural. They had triggered and warned both Macbeth and

Banquo’s futures which lead to their deaths.

Second, nature’s supernatural affairs are used to prove power and mourn for the dead in

Macbeth. The witches of this play are very manipulative and like to prove their power. Although

the witches can not directly harm someone, they can manipulate things around the circumstances

that leads into the results that they want to achieve. The witchs’ “...power fluctuations [is] caused

by [unnatural] conditions…[they have supernatural] control of...power.”(Teguri, paragaraph 1) In

Shakespearian times it was believed that whenever a King (highest ranking in the nation) was

brutally assassinated, all of nature’s orders would be disrupted. After Duncan’s death, one by