Bibi Thompson

How does Shakespeare present the supernatural in Macbeth and its influence over

characters and events?

The tragic play Macbeth is well known for being gruesome, ghastly, and grim. William

Shakespeare sets the play in 1040. He starts the play with the witches on stage, which

emphasizes how influential they are. If they are important in the play, they are important in

the Jacobean period. We know this is true because, King James was fascinated by witchcraft

and power, by writing many books about witchcraft. James has set out in his book

‘Demonology’ how to identify a witch and to trial them. In every part of the play Shakespeare

presents the witches as antagonists because they are the characters who causes problems

because of the prophecies that they gave Macbeth. They are also responsible for Macbeth’s

character change, from a dominant masculine figure to a fearful husband then murdering

tyrant of a character, the witches did this by tempting him to do evil things, so the prophecies

would come true.

Macbeth meets the witches on the heath. Shortly afterwards the witches predicted Macbeth

three prophecies which were: Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth will become

king, and the last one is Banquo’s son will become king. Before the prophies are said, the

three witches chant in unison ‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair,’ this oxymoron emphasises what is

considered bad is in fact good, and what is considered good is actually bad. The adjective

‘foul’ indicates, how disgusting they are as they could trick Macbeth as witches were

considered as a believed to create chaos by predicting Macbeth these prophies. In act 1, scene

3, the witches are making a spell and an arrangement. They want to meet Macbeth and they

are making a spell to try to predict the future. In the Jacobean period, witches were

considered bad, because they were a risk to people. King James wrote a book called

‘Demonology’ it was about the details of nature and sorcery, witches, Satan and haunting.

Shakespeare presents supernatural in the opening scene to emphasis supernatural is a going to

be a key to influence on characters, particularly Macbeth. through the play. Also Shakespeare

includes the witches to flatter King James I because witchcraft is a theme that would interest

King James, Shakespeare wants to insure King James’ support of his theatre company.
In Act 1, scene 3, Macbeth’s power and confidence goes to his head. He becomes self-

centred, because of what the witches have predicted he will be King of Scotland. At the

beginning of Act 1 scene 3, the witches enter with the stage directions of ‘thunder.’ This is

repeated images on destruction and chaos in Act 1 scene 1 where the witches enter, this

demonstrates how the witches are an instrumental character. Following the witches sharing

the three prophecies with Macbeth, as the audience we can tell that Macbeth has connected

with the witches as he has already started to speak like the witches. Earlier on in the play the

witches chanted over a spell ‘fair is foul, foul is fair.’ Macbeth later echoes the words of the

witches. He uses an alliterative oxymoron, ‘foul and fair a day I have not seen.’ This,

emphasises, how they manipulate him later in the play. The day is ‘fair’ because they are

celebrating the fact of the victorious battle, on the other hand, the day is ‘foul’ because he

regrets the many he has killed on the battlefield. Later in the scene Banquo warns Macbeth,

that the ‘instruments of darkness tell us truths;’ reminding us that Jacobeans period witches

were believed to encourage evil behaviour so that more souls would go to Hell. Shakespeare

includes the witches because they encourage him and make him believe that he cannot fail.
This is ironic because we know as the audience that Macbeth fails, both to be a man and a

husband.

In Act 1 scene 5, Lady Macbeth reads the letter from Macbeth where she finds out about how

the witches have predicted him to be king. Lady Macbeth calls on evil spirits to assists her

plans for Duncan’s murder. While Lady Macbeth delivers her soliloquy, she talks about how

she wants to be less feminine, due to her wanting to kill and be assertive. Lady Macbeth also

discusses how she wants someone to ‘take [her] milk for gall,’ Lady Macbeth doesn’t want to

do motherhood. She’s power hungry. She wants to be a leader not to stay at home and look

after the house or children. The phrase ‘gall’ means poison, lady Macbeth is asking for

supernatural spirits to change the milk in her breast to gall. She then later on shouts ‘you

murd’ring minister… dunnest smoke oh hell.’ What lady Macbeth means by the word ‘hell’

she is saying that the witches and devils are reminded of hell. They are evil and bully you into

doing immoral things. This presented the witches in both the play and Jacobean society as

possessed by demons and were known to be like a devil. In Act 1 scene 5, supernatural has

been displayed as a powerful, theme, it is demonstrating the gender roles, and how women
have to put up with more. It has been suggested in a RSC rehearsal that in Jacobean time a

women had 2 roles, a mother and a wife, and she has failed to be a mother and therefore

throws all he energies into Macbeth committing regicide in order for him to gain power.

In Act 2 scene 1, Macbeth hallucinates he thinks he can see a blood-stained dagger, pointing

him in the direction of Duncan’s bedroom. Macbeth’s thoughts are filled with evil

supernatural thoughts. As Macbeth slowly starts you lose power, and losing his mind, he sees

a blood-stained dagger above him, Macbeth questions ‘is this a dagger which I see before

me?’ In Macbeth’s soliloquy, Macbeth is unsure if there is a dagger, he is asking a question.

This suggests that Macbeth is timid and apprehensive. Shakespeare uses the word ‘dagger’

which symbolises, danger, murder, threat, fighting, killing. As the audience we know that all

these semantic field, these are all words of violence Macbeth then later on goes to wonder if

it is a product of ‘The heat-oppressed brain’ all this questioning suggests he doubts his own

mind, this is echoed later on in Act 3 scene 2, where he tells Lady Macbeth, ‘O, full of

scorpions is my mind’. Macbeth is struggling with the pressure and pain from the crawling

creepy insects that could represent his guilty conscience. This presents Macbeth as easy to
manipulate, because his brain sickness has weakened him, which makes it easier for Lady

Macbeth to persuade him to commit regicide and conceal his guilt. Shakespeare presents

supernatural as the catalyst that slowly drove both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth mad.

In Act 3 scene 4, Macbeth welcomes his guests to the banquet and mingles with them. This is

before he found out the news that Fleance’s had escaped. This troubles Macbeth and restores

his fear. He describes how he feels, ‘cabined, cribbed, confined.’ This tripling tricolon,

portrays that Macbeth feels like he can’t escape, he is bound in, with no way to forget about

his irresponsible choices, and regrets. This makes Macbeth feels claustrophobic, he is so

bound up in all of the murderous thought that he cannot focus on how he is slowly losing

power. Macbeth feels anxious because of the escape of Fleance which means that the witches’

third prophesies could come true. Whatever Macbeth finds himself boxed in to his own mind

with fear, guilt and anxiety about the witches third prediction. This seems to limit his power

as King of Scotland. He committed the regicide to remain powerful, but the guilt is limiting

him. Macbeth is afraid that the truth might come out. He has tried at all costs to prevent the

truth from coming out. This is playing with Macbeth’s mental health. Shakespeare presents
Macbeth in Act 3 scene 4, as not conforming to masculine stereotypes of the Jacobean time.

If you were wanted to be seen as a man, you had to show power and strength. At the start of

the play, Macbeth had power, due to being crowned Thane of Cawdor, but his power was then

diminished due to the fact that Lady Macbeth took over, by planning Duncan’s murder. This

is ironic because he wanted to gain more power, he wasn’t successful, he in-fact managed to

lose more power.

In Act 4 scene 1, it is evident that the witches have had a significant influence of Macbeth’s

actions, because he is worried about the third prediction. Macbeth wants to go see the

witches, the witches agree to show him the apparitions which they conjure using magic spells

and interactions. Absorbed into their disgusting rituals the witches chant as they loop round

the cauldron, throwing in gruesome and repulsive things to make a position. The witches

narrate, how Macbeth has changed so far in this play, this is demonstrated by, ‘By the

pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes;’ Macbeth starts off a hero and he

is highly honoured. Now he is a evil and impulsive, reckless. The adjective ‘wicked’ could

identifying Macbeth as evil, and more aligned now with these agents of the devil, rather than
the brave, good war heroes of Act 1. Shakespeare’s use of the rhyming couplet

(thumbs/comes) to emphasise their magical powers and ability to predict the future.

Supernatural has been presented in Macbeth, Act 4 scene 1, by Shakespeare in the way of the

use of spells, to create these apparitions, this is conveyed by the list of gruesome ingredients.

Shakespeare reminds us of Macbeth’s insecurities and making rash decisions.

In Act 5 scene 1, after the doctor had reported that he had seen Lady Macbeth sleepwalking,

although he refuses to tell Macbeth what his mistress had been talking about while she was

sleepwalking. In Lady Macbeth’s short soliloquy, the audience would have figured out that

Lady Macbeth has gone mad from all the pressure of Duncan’s murder. Lady Macbeth shouts,

‘Out damned spot! Out I say!’ This demonstrates that Lady Macbeth is in utter stress, she is

desperately trying to wash her hands from Duncan’s blood after she forced Macbeth to

commit his murder. This metaphorically indicates the guilt that she feels, from both the death

of first Duncan and then Banquo, and then Macduff’s wife and children. The verb ‘damned’

presents that she is bewitched and should suffer horribly in hell. If you were known to be mad

and inhumane you were thought to be a witch. In the Jacobean time witches were considered
to be in league with the devil; if God had angels, the devil had witches. If you were found out

to be a witch, you would get punished on trial using the ducking stool. Shakespeare presents

the supernatural with symbolism throughout the play: the dagger, Banquo’s ghost, apparitions

and Lady Macbeth seeing the blood spots. This is because both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

have completely lost their mind by the end of Act 5 scene 1. Macbeth is frustrated as the

power is getting to his head, and is feeling very guilty after regicide, whereas Lady Macbeth

is more a mental health issue.

In the final Act, especially scene 5, the supernatural is one of the key themes. When Macbeth

found out about his wife’s suicide it triggers Macbeth’s inner quietness, subduedness and

thoughtfulness. Macbeth talks about how she ‘should have died here after’ fighting, not

before. Lady Macbeth should not have died at Dunsinane, Macbeth is meant to be protecting

her. Lady Macbeth shouldn’t be remembered for this. Either way after finding out this

depressing news, Macbeth is determined to stay and fight for Dunsinane. Macbeth describe

how he feels, by exclaiming, ‘I have almost forgot the taste of fear;’ this is due to the fact,

that he has experienced so much death and violence that he is immune to grief and anxiety.
All of this is then also relevant when a messenger told Macbeth that the Birnam wood is

moving closer. Macbeth feels enraged and terrified, he recalls the prophies that the witches

predicted him, Macbeth shouldn’t die until Birnam wood move to Dunsinane. Macbeth

declares, ‘I’ gin to be aweary of the sun.’ Macbeth is exhausted of the sun, and he will be

okay, because he has died fighting. The representation of the depression symbolises what

Macbeth is experiencing from his extremely violent actions. In the Jacobean ear,

stereotypically men were meant to protect and provide for their wives. Macbeth is not

fulfilling his manly duty therefore is portrayed as a cruel husband. This lack of support

provided by Macbeth could possibly symbolise that the supernatural world and the witches

have control over his actions as evidently, he otherwise would have supported Lady Macbeth.

In conclusion, I would tend to believe throughout the play, supernatural has had an extremely

significant part, due to all the predictions that later on came true. Macbeth’s character as a

whole, is by far the most changed character due to supernatural. This is because of his

mindset throughout the play he was presented at the beginning of the play as a brave soldier

fighting against Norway’s army. Although carrying on through the play and towards the end
he had turned evil and self-centred. At the end of the play, Macbeth’s death is a very powerful

relief, due to him being a morally repulsive monster. Although we are all thankful that

Macbeth has been murderer, he was not murdered bravely on a battlefield instead Macduff

executed him to avenge his murder of Duncan and Banquo, and Macduff’s wife and children.

To conclude the play, Macbeth that Shakespeare so cleverly wrote, Macbeth is the most

changed character. It is the supernatural events that have led to the tragic ending because of

the witches’ original predictions. Especially when he murders his friend, Banquo. As most

people don’t believe in the happenings of supernatural anymore, the relevance of the play

today, in the 21st century lies predominantly in breaking gender stereotypes. This occurs in

the fourth paragraph where Lady Macbeth references to when she wanted her milk to be

taken. This symbolises her to break free off her femininity, this is an example of gender

stereotype. The witches' influence could represent some modern-day occurrences. For

example much like the witches there are influences we can't necessarily trust that lead us to

harm e.g. social media, AI deepfakes.

(2444)