Supernatural Elements In the Play Macbeth (Essay Sample)

Your Name
Professor
Course
March 30, 2014
Supernatural Elements In the Play Macbeth
Option Two (2): How does the presence of supernatural elements Affect Macbeth Choices Through out the play?
1.0 The Three Witches And Their Prophecies
Macbeth, a play by William Shakespeare relays a tale of heroic soldier who is presaged to become the king of Scotland upon meeting three witches, committing regicide and a chain of crimes, which lead to his own tragic demise. Shakespeare utilizes the supernatural in his play to add dramatic effect and heighten the suspense, the supernatural is also entrenched in the life of Macbeth, often determining his course of action and the salient decisions he makes throughout the play. Most actions that Macbeth undertakes are subjective to his inherent belief in the existence of supernatural powers, which persuade him that he can become the king of Scotland.
Macbeth is a canonical work of the 17th century that have been extensively studied, analyzed and interpreted over time. The supernatural elements in the story are central to the plot to reveal deeper meaning, at the same time providing for a level of ambiguity that allows the audience to have different interpretations (Caderwood 64). In this tale, supernatural is used as means of reflecting upon the vice of succumbing to temptations that are common to mankind and the consequences of falling to the darker side of human nature (Hawkins 132). In Macbeth, the supernatural can be perceived as literal elements or as metaphors for the psychology of the human protagonists. Through the supernatural, the true nature of the lead character is portrayed providing definitive example of how the supernatural and spiritual can be used to create a deeper narrative meaning.
In Macbeth, the supernatural forms an integral part of the plot, providing a catalyst for, an insight into character, and augments dramatic effect to the spectacular scenes (Caderwood 102). The supernatural appears in variety of ways such as the ghost, the witches, the floating dagger and prophetic apparitions which make various appearances. Through the main character’s delusion and Lady Macbeth’s sway over him, misdeeds are committed that leave hideous scars on the society and felonies that are perpetually etched in history. Macbeth seems to stumble and make mistakes after mistakes leading to his disgrace. This essay examines the effects of supernatural in the play Macbeth and how it affects his characterization, the plot and his choices.
In scene one, as the play commences three witches appear to Macbeth and Banquo, the presence of the witches is markedly important in the progression of plot and the characterization of Macbeth. Through their wicked machinations they bring out Macbeth’s inner evil ambition and determine his fate. “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” (Act 1, Scene. 1, 11), in these scene the witches start in boding evil of thunder and lighting, the desolate atmosphere that starts off the drama supports the terror and tragedy that typify the rest of the play. As such, the audience is able to infer into the witches’ intentions for meeting Macbeth and the harm they intend to do. “When the hurlyburly’s done/ When the battle’s lost and won” (Act 1, Scene.1). Although Macbeth has worn the battle of war, the witches insinuate that he might lose battle against his own fate (Bartholomeusz 93). The witches predict that, everything will be overturned, moral order upturned giving room for darkness to prevail (Bloom 34). Through their ominous foreshadowing, the audience can almost guess the chaos that will ultimately decide Macbeth’s outcome.
Although Macbeth is a valiant character with immense ambition, the presence of the supernatural evil forces tempts him hoodwinking him into their wicked entrapment. At first, Macbeth is very cautious over the prophecies made by the witches, but once they pronounce that he would be given the title of “Thane of Cawdor” he is hooked into their gimmicks, convinced that in the future he would inherit the throne (Kranz 44). Since Macbeth lacked strong moral authority, the witches were able to access him and pollute his way of thinking. Lady Macbeth is very instrumental in swaying Macbeth into deeper wickedness since she was able to convince him to commit dreadful crimes. The three witches gave Macbeth three major prophecies which triggered him to commit felonies and make choices that were ultimately detrimental to his own life.
Macbeth would become Thane of Cawdor.
Macbeth will also be king of Scotland.
Though Banquo will not become the king he will be the father of kings(Davidson 54)
Once the witches give their prophetic words to Macbeth he takes fate in his own hands, he comes up with a plan on how to secure the throne and the ultimate power. There were two ways in which he could ascend the throne, he could either inherit the throne or murder or succeed the incumbent king Duncan. Murdering the king appeared to be most logical choice because there was already an heir to the throne chosen by Duncan. Lady Macbeth on the other hand, had relied on the supernatural by her soliloquy, summoning evil spirits to give her the ability to plot for Duncan’s murder without any remorse or conscience (Act I, Scene V, ll.42-57). So finally Lady Macbeth convinces her husband Macbeth to murder King Duncan; they master the plan together so that on the night of murder Macbeth had to wait for Lady Macbeth to ring the signal bell so he could go to Duncan’s chamber and murder him.
Just before Macbeth kills Duncan, he starts hallucinating seeing a bloody dagger, this in reality signifies his deep disturbance because he is not able to distinguish what is real and what is imagination (Bartholomeusz 129). So the vision of the floating dagger firmly convinces Macbeth that he should go ahead and commit his planned crime. The dagger leads Macbeth towards the chamber then as the signal bell rings Macbeth proceeds stealthily up the staircase to Duncan's chamber where he commits the atrocious deed. After the murder is committed, Banquo, Macbeth’s friend, develops suspicions about Macbeth killing Duncan so as to ascend the throne. Ravaged by fear and guilt over the murder of Duncan, Macbeth and his wife decide to kill Banquo to erase their guilt and fear that Banquo could find out their crime (Caderwood 45). All these decisions that Macbeth take are triggered by the supernatural evil spirits which work systematically through the machinations of the three witches and his wife lady Macbeth. The supernatural did not offer sound assistance to Macbeth rather it threw him into deeper confusion phrases used by the witches such as “Lesser than Macbeth, and greater/ Not so happy, yet much happier/ Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.” (Act 1, Scene. iii, 67-69) suggest that the witches do not bring certainty but rather mystification and chaos that perplex and mislead Macbeth.
When King Duncan names Malcolm as heir to the throne, its sets a platform for Macbeth to strive for the throne; thus he resolves to follow the prophecy given by three witches; this is how he ends up planning and executing the murder of Duncan. Lady Macbeth’s ambition to make her husband king causes her to access the supernatural and she addresses the spirits “that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here/ and fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full/ of direst cruelty! (Act 1, Scene. five, 44-46). She addresses the spirits from the immensity of her spitefulness, beckoning the evil forces to take away her morality and to so as to replace her humanity with evil. When there is an opportunity to kill Duncan, Lady Macbeth is animated at the prospect of being part of the malevolence. Another supernatural element comes in with the shrieking of an owl since it’s believed that its sound hints an imminent death. When Macbeth finally kills the king he is apprehensive of his own actions and is now regretful and scared; he knows that his crime would follow and haunt him; he does not however realize that his actions have been manipulated by his evil wife and the three witches.
2.0 Banquo’s Ghost In A Banquet
Macbeth could not deal with the guilt he felt over Duncan, and when Banquo treats him with suspicion over the death of Duncan Macbeth is enraged and decides to murder him. Overwhelmed by devilish thoughts that fills his mind and determines his decisions; Macbeth kills Banquo so that he could come in to terms with his own crime. Killing Banquo only served to drive Macbeth into deeper quagmire as the ghost of the deceased appears to him in a banquet; the Banquo’s ghost is only visible to him (Bloom 63). Once the murderer notifies Macbeth that he has already murdered Banquo he observes the ghost of Banquo sitting in his regular seat.
This apparition causes Macbeth to act in a weird manner making people suspicious of his actions. (Act III, Scene VI, ll.31-120).This serves to demonstrate the unstable state of Macbeth after killing Banquo. He cries out “Hence, horrible shadow!/Unreal mockery, hence! (Act 3, Scene. IV, 125-126). When Macbeth sees the ghost he is horrified and upsets the guests. He wonders why murder had taken place many times in the past before it was prevented by law -edict purged the gentle weal- and yet the dead were coming back to the living world. Since Lady Macbeth was still ignorant over Banquo’s death, she believed that he was merely staring at the apparition of Duncan.
There is room for vagueness in the way that Banquo’s ghost is represented. Kranz, David(2003) writes that the representation of “Banquo’s ghost, which only Macbeth can see, again puts pressure on the audience in determining where to draw lines between the inner and outer existence(107). In other words, t...