essay on the supernatural in macbeth

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How is the Supernatural in Macbeth Presented - Essay Edexcel GCSE English Literature

Literature in english, high school - united kingdom.

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Preview text, the theme of the supernatural appears in the play in various guises – as the witches, as, visions and in lady macbeth’s incantations.,  witchcraft has four functions in the play: it exposes the evil hiding within macbeth; it, directs his evil to particular deeds; it highlights the forces of evil at work in the world; and, it creates a powerful atmosphere in the play.,  the witches only appear in four scenes (i, i, iii, iv). however, they are the first, characters we meet and their evil sets the scene for everything to come: thunder and, lightning suggest the havoc that scotland is about to experience. the witches know they, will tell macbeth something that will prey on his mind. the witches’ knowledge is like a, drug to macbeth. he is hooked on them from the start – ‘would they had stayed’ (i.3), – and continually wants more. this leads him to seek them out later. banquo warns, against trusting supernatural knowledge, but macbeth will not listen.,  macbeth is particularly affected by the supernatural, with his visions of the dagger (ii), and banquo’s ghost (iii).,  when lady macbeth calls on the dark forces (i) she is asking demonic spirits to, possess her mind and body so that all her human pity can be removed., how does the opening scene of the play set up the theme of evil and the supernatural,  the characters are three witches who are mysterious and otherworldly. they speak or chant with a particular rhythm of their,  the scene is set in a wild and unruly place and the witches are meeting outside in the middle of a thunderstorm.,  their language emphasises disruption and that everything is confused and chaotic (eg 'fair is foul, and foul is fair')., the characters, setting and language that shakespeare uses all combine to create a memorable opening scene which, concentrates on evil and the supernatural., in shakespeare's time, the powers of evil were thought to be absolutely real; to most people, hell was an actual place and the devil a constant threat to their souls. in particular there was, a fascination with witches and witchcraft. hundreds of innocent people (mostly women) were, executed as suspected witches. the interest came from the very top, led by king james i, himself who published a book on the subject called demonology. when shakespeare came, to write his play, he knew that his audience would find the theme of evil and the supernatural, very interesting indeed., how is this shown in the play, in macbeth, william shakespeare uses evil and the supernatural as a background to, all the events which take place. some of the key aspects are:,  wicked thoughts and actions,  the activities of the witches,  the disruption of nature, shakespeare, evidence analysis, thoughts and, the witches', predictions encourage, present fears / are, less than horrible, before the first murder of, the play takes place there, macbeth to think, wicked thoughts and, carry out evil, deeds. as well as, murder, macbeth is, also guilty of lying,, deception, cowardice,, seeking out further, contact with evil forces,, behaving brutally with, both physical and verbal, violence and showing a, lack of love and concern, for others., imaginings. / my, thought, whose, murder yet is but, fantastical, /, shakes so my, single state of man, that function / is, smothered in, surmise, and, nothing is, / but, what is not. (act 1, is a slow build up, as macbeth wrestles with, his conscience. the, wicked thoughts he has are, almost worse than the, actual deeds ('present, fears / are less than, horrible imaginings'). he, becomes more concerned, with what might happen, rather than reality ('nothing, is, but what is not') and, uses evil methods to, achieve his desires. once, duncan's murder has taken, place, a line has been, crossed and further acts of, wickedness keep on, the activities, appearance at the start, of the play in the middle, of a thunderstorm, (apparently of their own, creation) sets the tone, for what is to follow. as, well as predicting the, future, controlling the, weather and casting, evil spells, they also, discuss the wicked, acts they carry out, against ordinary men, and women. in a, couple of scenes they, interact with hecate, the, goddess of witchcraft., her husband's to, aleppo gone,, master o'th'tiger: /, but in a sieve i'll, thither sail, / and, like a rat without a, tail, / i'll do, i'll do,, and i'll do........ i'll, drain him dry as, hay: / sleep shall, neither night nor, day / hang upon, his penthouse lid; /, he shall live a man, forbid. / weary, sennights nine, times nine, / shall, he dwindle, peak, and pine. (act 1, one of the witches, describes how a sailor's, wife has insulted her and, how she plans to take, her revenge ('i'll do, i'll do,, and i'll do'). she plans to, follow his ship (the tiger), and drain the life out of him, by not allowing him to, sleep. she is going to keep, this up for 567 days, ('sennights nine times nine', or 7 × 9 × 9). as both, macbeth and, particularly,, his wife discover, sleep, deprivation is an awful, punishment., disruption of, the opening of the play, takes place in the, the night has, been unruly:, where we lay, /, moments before macduff, announces the discovery of, duncan's dead body,, moral foundation and the totality of the future (i. that it is, unknown) the world of 'macbeth' instantly becomes one with a, different world-structure to our own. it is circular, and known, and, yet there is little comfort to be found in fate. this stands in the, face of hubris, of ones perception not only that we have control, over the future but that this control is a morally positive force,, and lays the foundations for the characterisations of both, macbeth and lady macbeth. shakespeare's presentation of the, phantom in this play is also noteworthy as it illustrates an active, past as well as an active present. this is again an illustration of, his world-building within macbeth, as he does not allow any of, time's three states to remain entirely 'still'. whilst it is banquo's, ghost who returns, the entire play is tonally 'haunted' by the, death of duncan; this is something that shakespeare engenders, symbolically through the immovable spot of blood on lady, macbeth's hand. his use of powerful rhetoric and emotive, language, "out damned spot..." illustrates how the supernatural, is a vessel for this contentions regarding human nature, throughout the play: primarily our hubris in seeking power this is, not ours to have, be it through kingship or through knowledge of, the future, the macbeth's 'over-reach' and find themselves struck, down by a world more powerful than themselves. again this, theme of fatality is rife throughout the shakespearian canon and, can be traced back to contemporary beliefs in a 'wheel of fortune', which was believed to dictate life in a way that human agency, could not - this provides a deeper understanding of shakespeare's, presentation of the supernatural as a means of reconciling the, human consciousness and the totality of the world in which is, the supernatural forces are used to great effect in shakespeare’s play, “macbeth.” from the beginning until the end of the play, the forces generate, fear, tension and suspense, heightened by the superstition at the time at, which the play was first performed in 1606 when even the king, james i, was, a firm believer in witches. although it can be suggested that lady macbeth, had a more significant role over the events in the play as she took advantage, of macbeth’s pre-existing ambition, lady macbeth only achieved that by, summoning spirits in order to lose her human qualities. therefore, it could be, implied that it is only the supernatural forces over lady macbeth that, encouraged her manipulation of her husband’s ambition. thus, the, supernatural forces have the most power over the events in the play as it, governs everything., through the witches, shakespeare first presents supernatural chants like ‘fair, is foul, and foul is fair.’ the fact that they speak in opposite couplets makes, them appear bizarre, and ties to supernatural themes displaying the, perversion of nature as if appearances were lost. they also communicate in, trochaic tetrameter, which is an unnatural rhythm, distinguishing them from, everyone else in the play. witchcraft was treated very seriously by society, during the jacobean era. the reigning king of the moment, james i, was, highly engaged surrounding ideas of the supernatural and witchcraft ideas as, shown by the king writing and publishing a book in 1605 called, ‘daemonologie’ which was an efficacious text in which he stated that, witchcraft was a reality and that its practitioners should be penalised. we can, infer that james’ obsession may have inspired shakespeare to write, “macbeth” and to have the theme of the supernatural so prominent throughout, the first comment macbeth makes is “so foul and fair”. this is alarming as the, first words macbeth utters is similar to the witches. this suggests that he has, been influenced by the witches to say such comments. this could then, indicate that macbeth’s subsequent murders and visions were of a similar, effect of the witches we see in act 1 scene 3, suggesting supernatural forces, supposedly had control over the acts of macbeth. the deceit in ‘fair is foul’, foreshadows that macbeth deceives duncan and commits the ultimate crime, of assassinating him in order to be king. act 1 scene 3, in terms of the, supernatural, is a critical and crucial scene. the scene opens with the witches, contending about their secret intentions. the witches have gathered on a, moor, where a horrific storm is adding to the ominous, eerie mood of the, scene. macbeth and banquo then stumble upon the witches, after their victory, at the battle. banquo describes the witches as “so withered and so wild in, attire, which looks not like the inhabitants of the earth,” if banquo can see the, witches then we know that they are not a product of macbeth’s imagination,, driven by his ambition. banquo believes the witches derive from the devil,, after his confrontation with the witches ‘can the devil speak true’. this shows, she called on the supernatural yet is now being rebuffed by it. typically,, jacobean audiences would most likely see this as god’s doing., 11th century scotland was deemed a very much patriarchal society. there, was a clear concept of hierarchy in society, which shakespeare demonstrates, at different points within the play. the witches have been said to represent, women’s attempt to gain power in a society that’s set up to give power only to, men. in jacobean society, women would have been towards the bottom of the, chain of being and certainly below men. similarly to lady macbeth in act 1, scene 5, the witches endeavour to make appear increasingly manly in an, attempt to acquire more power. shakespeare gives the characters of the, witches beards (you should be women, yet your beards forbid me to interpret, that you are so’) to symbolise this desire., macbeth’s hallucinations, or visions present the impact of the supernatural., one example of a hallucination is when macbeth asks, ‘is this a dagger which, i see before me’. the fact that macbeth is seeing a floating dagger, in his mind, is another demonstration of the supernatural. here, the supernatural is, essentially pressing macbeth to murder duncan. shakespeare could be, purposefully highlighting how evil the supernatural is as it is not only telling, him to kill – but commit the act of regicide, which in the 11th century, was, possibly the worst crime anyone could commit, along with communicating with, the supernatural. during macbeth’s soliloquy he questions if the dagger is just, ‘a dagger of the mind’ or a ‘false creation’. this causes macbeth to question, his own psychological state and whether the dagger is just a hallucination,, caused the pressure of duncan’s homicide and the pressure placed on him by, his manipulative and cunning wife, lady macbeth. the audience at the time, will have been shocked by this as jacobean society saw king’s as almost holy, since they respected the divine right of kings. furthermore, here,, shakespeare is displaying the power that the supernatural has over events in, the play since macbeth has been driven to insanity by a supernatural, the banquet in act 3 scene 4 is a vital scene, since it is when we see either, the impacts of homicide on macbeth’s inner voice or the real ghost of banquo., macbeth claims to see banquo’s apparition, but only him at the banquet can, see the phenomenon. banquo’s ghost appears as a reminder to the crime of, regicide macbeth committed and the guiltless blood, he had on his hands in, order to gain his place. this scene is a turning point or climax in the play as, macbeth is extremely alarmed and loses his rational mindset. others sharing, the banquet with macbeth start to become suspicious of him since he speaks, out loud, saying, ‘quit my sight let the earth hide thee thy bones are, marrow less, thy blood is cold’. the appearance of banquo’s ghost also keeps, the audience’s attention at a maximum because jacobean society were, enthralled by the supernatural. traditional christian views concerning the, afterlife are represented by the supernatural in “macbeth”. the appearance of, banquo’s ghost illustrates a popular superstition that a person that has died a, violent death, cannot rest in peace until the murderer is punished., the use of the supernatural in macbeth has been put to great use by, shakespeare in the storyline of the play. the supernatural events, which, happen in the play, allow us to question which of the two cause the major, events in the play to happen. is it the supernatural powers and the captivating, witches with their prophecies or is it macbeth’s paranoia, neurosis and, increasing insanity which leads him to believe hallucinations to a jacobean, audience the first would have been believed as they believed they were real, and devilish. to conclude, i believe shakespeare suggest that supernatural, powers have a major effect on the significant events of the play., the fear of witches and witchcraft has a long history in europe, and common beliefs, about witches can be found in the portrayal of the “three weird sisters” in, shakespeare’s macbeth. witches were usually, but not always, women, and could, trigger suspicions of witchcraft by engaging in unconventional lifestyles, such as, living alone or in isolation from a community, just as the witches in macbeth are, presented as at odds with society, living by themselves on the heath and begging for, food. witches usually also had “familiars” to carry out tasks for them; these could, take the form of animals such as cats or dogs. when we first see them, the witches, in macbeth refer to their animal familiars of graymalkin (a cat) and a paddock, (toad). while she is presented in different terms, lady macbeth’s allusion to, summoning up demonic spirits to help her carry out her plan in act 1, scene 5, would, also possibly have invoked ideas of witchcraft, especially given the sexualized, language she uses. audiences were likely to believe that women became witches by, consenting to sexual intercourse with the devil or some other evil spirit., n 1542, fifty years before shakespeare wrote macbeth, king henry viii passed the, first english witchcraft act, which officially made the practice of witchcraft punishable, by death. henry was motivated by the religious tensions triggered by his earlier, break from the catholic church, but he might also have been wary of the powerful, influences women had held over him. when his second wife, anne boleyn was tried, and executed for crimes including adultery and treason, there were also charges that, she had practiced witchcraft and used magic to trick and seduce the king. this first, witchcraft act was repealed by henry’s son edward, but a new act was passed, shortly after elizabeth came to the throne. this act stipulated death to anyone found, guilty of using witchcraft to harm another person. some historians have argued that, at a moment when a woman independently ruled, anxieties about female power and, influence became more pronounced, leading to sterner penalties for suspected, witches. similarly, in addition to the explicit presence of witches, macbeth also, features a strong-willed and domineering woman, suggesting that shakespeare also, saw these themes as interconnected., the witches’ beards, bizarre potions, and rhymed speech make them seem slightly, ridiculous, like caricatures of the supernatural. shakespeare has them speak in, rhyming couplets throughout (their most famous line is probably “double, double, toil, and trouble, / fire burn and cauldron bubble” in 4.1–11), which separates them, from the other characters, who mostly speak in blank verse. the witches’ words, seem almost comical, like malevolent nursery rhymes. despite the absurdity of their, “eye of newt and toe of frog” recipes, however, they are clearly the most dangerous, characters in the play, being both tremendously powerful and utterly wicked (4.1)., the audience is left to ask whether the witches are independent agents toying with, human lives, or agents of fate, whose prophecies are only reports of the inevitable., the witches bear a striking and obviously intentional resemblance to the fates,, female characters in both norse and greek mythology who weave the fabric of, human lives and then cut the threads to end them. some of their prophecies seem, self-fulfilling. for example, it is doubtful that macbeth would have murdered his king, without the push given by the witches’ predictions. in other cases, though, their, prophecies are just remarkably accurate readings of the future—it is hard to see, birnam wood coming to dunsinane as being self-fulfilling in any way. the play offers, no easy answers. instead, shakespeare keeps the witches well outside the limits of, human comprehension. they embody an unreasoning, instinctive evil., supernatural is any “phenomenon which can’t be, explained by the accepted laws of natural science or, physical laws.” there is a reason that the play macbeth, begins with the three witches., there is no direct mention of any real character of the play, in scene i, act 1 but it is in such a supernatural happening,, the primary contradiction inherent in the play is uttered, when together they say, “fair is foul, and foul is fair.”, as if through such outer metaphysics the true meditation, on the themes of the play is possible. macbeth is, introduced in the play only after the three witches utter, “a, drum, a drum macbeth doth come.”, and macbeth reiterates what earlier the three witches, uttered. this is where we come to understand the, supernatural side to the real happenings in the play., the three witches seem like knowing much more than they, actually say every time they surface in the play. each word, they utter has a solid contribution to macbeth’s action., their presence is more involving to the entire plot because, apart from macbeth, banquo can also see them. the fact, that he disqualifies the evil they try to inspire in him tells, us of his clear conscience., the witches might’ve been based on popular superstition, of that time but they are beings with power more than, mere witchcraft. what they utter confirms the evil which, has been in the heart of macbeth. macbeth surrendering to, the suggestions made by their prophecies binds him to a, tragic fate beyond his power to prevent it., his second meeting with them makes him bloodier than, ever before because he has already confirmed to their, suggestive trap by murdering duncan and banquo. it is, their misleading apparitions which tempt the natural, temptation in him due to unchecked ambition., the three witches are such supernatural beings whose, words have realistic consequences carried out by macbeth, like human individuals. shakespeare makes them vague in, their foretelling and that’s what makes them sound so, persuasive to the conflictive macbeth., the ghost of banquo is another supernatural presence in, the play but its presence is of a different degree. here it is, a psychological consequence, a sign of macbeth’s inner, weakness to the constant poking of his conscience, his, deep-seated guilt., shakespeare uses the ghost in a supernatural tone to, unsettle macbeth from the leftovers of his ambitious, strength. shakespeare diving deep into the psychology of, his characters uses supernaturalism to treat them more, objectively. supernaturalism is the theme which brings out, the theme of power and guilt in the play much clearly., cause action and chaos during the play and are major causes, of macbeth’s ambition, murder, insanity, his downfall and, ultimately,, his death. through temptation, they motivate characters to think, selfishly and for their own benefit. they also cause the future chaos, by telling macbeth and banquo about prophecies which puts the, idea of power inside their heads. this motivates macbeth to then, turn his back on his loyal and brave personality and murder duncan, with his only intention .. more content..., future conflict arises because they tempt macbeth and banquo with, the idea of power which leads macbeth to turn his back on his loyal, and courageous personality and to become arrogant and selfish., macbeth’s arrogance is made apparent with the immediacy of his, thoughts of becoming king and it is clear that the supernatural give, him arrogant ambition as macbeth is already beginning to think of, how he will be crowned king. macbeth eventually decides to give in, and murder duncan, king of scotland, which really shows his change, in character. we see this when macbeth says “i am settled, and, bend up, each corporal agent to this terrible feat” (1.7-80),, meaning that he had decided to go through with the plan and he is, going to go prepare. the fact that macbeth actually killed duncan, really shows how much his personality was altered because he had, talked about how he thought duncan was a great leader, how much, his people loved him and how much respect he had for the king, when he .. more content..., when lady macbeth hears about the witches’ prophecy, she is, tempted with the idea of power but but she is worried that her, husband is too kind and loyal to do what it takes to become king., she does rely on the supernatural during the play when she calls, upon the spirits to give her the power to plot and carry out the, murder of duncan. after the witches put the ideas of her husband, becoming king in her head, lady macbeth helps bring out the evil, side of macbeth. her guilt consumes her, and we see how the, supernatural lead her into insanity, while her husband kills everyone, who could possibly get in his.

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How is the Supernatural in Macbeth Presented - Essay Edexcel GCSE English Literature

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