I, iii 123 – 126
And oftentimes to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s
In deepest consequence.-
This will please James I, to know that his relatives were also aware of witches’ evil. James I is also mentioned in Macbeth, when Macbeth has a vision of eight King’s, on with “two-fold balls and treble sceptres”. These were James’ regalia, and symbolised James’s power over Macbeth. James I is also seen to have power of Macbeth when Banquo’s ghost is seen sitting in Macbeth’s chair. This use of the supernatural suggests that Banquo’s ancestors will one day take over the throne from Macbeth. Macbeth’s fear of Banquo’s ghost also suggests again that Banquo is superior to Macbeth. Finally, Shakespeare uses the supernatural to interest James I when Macbeth seems powerless in the face of Lady Macbeth’s illness. Malcolm and Macduff talk about how the true king has the power to cure the King’s Evil, as disease called scrofula. James I was believed to have this power and it would have pleased James to know that Shakespeare has shown him to be more powerful than Macbeth.
Shakespeare also realised how important it is for plays to appeal to their general audience, and uses a number of different methods to carry this out.
The regular people of Elizabethan and Jacobean England also had a fascination with witches, and every town in England would have suspected witches, so it was a common subject of conversation. From these conversations sprouted rumours about the ways and lifestyles of witches, and Shakespeare put hints of these stories into Macbeth. In Act 1 Scene 3, Witch 2 says she has been “Killing swine”, whilst witch 1 says that “in a sieve I’ll hither sail”. The people of that time did actually believe that witches killed pigs and sailed over the ocean in a sieve, and hearing these things in a play would have lit up their enthusiastic fascination and would have grabbed their attention.
In Macbeth the witches are not only used to fascinate the audience but also to amuse them. The audience would have enjoyed the reference to the witches “beards” in Act 1 Scene 3, as the witches would have been played by men, and the self-aware joking from the actors would have gone down well with the whole audience.
Shakespeare also uses recent events to attract the audience. Macbeth becomes very concerned about the fact that he has no heir to his throne, and the audience will be able to relate this to their recent experience of Queen Elizabeth, who died with no natural heir.
The supernatural also adds to Macbeth on a dramatic level, and is used to create suspense, embellish themes of the play and to accentuate the characters personalities, amongst other things.
As previously mentioned, the supernatural encompasses hallucinations, and Macbeth’s hallucination of a dagger is a great dramatic device to give the audience the full, haunting extent of Macbeth’s inner turmoil. In some performances of Macbeth, the dagger actually appears hovering onstage, and whilst that maybe an interesting use of special effects, I think it is far more effective when the dagger is invisible, as we can see that he is in fact seeing things, and that what is going on is just in his mind. Similarly, when Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost sitting in his chair, having no one sitting in the chair shows how disturbed Macbeth is. Also, this would the audience in the same position as his friends at the table, perplexed and worried about what is happening. On the other hand, if someone was to play Banquo’s ghost, it would allow for the actor to make use of the stage trapdoor, which would have gone down very well with the audience. Another use of Banquo’s ghost is to mark a turning point in the play; before the ghost’s arrival, Macbeth is authoritative and respected, but his reaction to the ghost shows him in a completely different light, nervous and vulnerable, and this would change his friends’ opinions. This signifies a big change in the play, and from this point onward things become progressively words for Macbeth.
Another example of how the supernatural is used as a dramatic device is when Macbeth and Banquo first meet with the witches. The audience know that Macbeth is to be soon hailed Thane of Cawdor, but Macbeth is unaware. This use of dramatic irony gives the audience a sense of superiority, and draws them into the play.
Finally, in Act 2 and Scene 4 Ross and the Old Man are commenting on how the events of Macbeth’s regicide have affected the wider world. Here they act almost like a Greek chorus, providing a running commentary on events. The events they describe, such as Duncan’s horses eating each other and a Falcon being eaten by a Mousing Owl effectively tell the audience that Macbeth’s actions have far-reaching consequences.
Macbeth is a tragedy, and Shakespeare uses the supernatural to reinforce this. Macbeth is tragic because at the beginning of the play Macbeth is a brave, honourable man, but by the end he is a weak, self centred man, who is eventually killed through fault of his own. This fits Aristotle’s notion of what a tragedy is. In his Poetics he says that a good tragedy has to be about the downfall of a man from a position of greatness to one of lowliness and death. However, Aristotle then goes on to say that it is only a true tragedy if the downfall was brought about by an aspect of the man’s personality, what Aristotle called his “fatal flaw”. Macbeth’s fatal flaw is his ambition, and the supernatural is used to back this up in a number of ways:
The witches in Macbeth are used to show how Macbeth’s ambition takes over everything in his life, and is responsible for Macbeth’s killing of Duncan. In Act 1 Scene 3, the witches don’t say anything about killing Duncan, but Macbeth is so captivated by the fact that he has been told he could be King, his ambition takes over and he would do anything to get to the crown. Shakespeare also uses Banquo’s reaction to the witches’ prophecies to bring out Macbeth’s burning ambition further still. Banquo hears the same things from the witches, but responds in a far more level-headed way, which shows how great an effect Macbeth’s ambition has on his thoughts.
Ambition is one of the main themes in Macbeth, but perhaps the most important theme is that of Kingship, and the lengths Macbeth will go to to become King, which includes Regicide. In Shakespearean times people were far more aware of The Divine Right of Kings, and therefore killing a King was the next crime down from killing God. An assault on the King is an assault on God, and it was shown by Ross and the Old Man in Act 2 Scene 4 that the killing of Duncan had supernatural consequences. These consequences are an example of how nature is disordered and unnatural, and the supernatural also conveys this in a number of ways:
In the opening scene, the witches talk about paradoxes such as “fair is foul and foul is fair”, and they say Banquo is “lesser that Macbeth, and greater.” This is Shakespeare’s way of showing that things in the play are the opposite of what they seem, and that there are many double meanings to what the witches say. Even the appearance of the witches show that things are reversed and upside down, as displayed by the witches beards.
Also, Shakespeare uses the interruption of natural rhythms such as sleep to show how the natural order has been interrupted. Lady Macbeth’s somnambulance is a clear example of how disturbed she is over the death of Duncan, and because Lady Macbeth is always putting a front on in public laced with smiles, sleepwalking is a highly effective way of bringing out her inner turmoil.
Finally, Shakespeare uses pathetic fallacy to show what effect Macbeth’s actions have on the rest of the world. The stormy weather and earthquakes described once again by Ross and Old Man demonstrate that there not just a few people suffering from Macbeth’s actions, it encompasses a whole nation.
This essay has shown how Shakespeare uses the supernatural in a dramatic, thematic and audience-specific ways, but in order to see just how effectively he integrates into the text, it is important to look at two scenes where it is most memorably used. This essay will be looking at Act 1 Scene 1 and Act 5 Scene 1.
ACT 1 SCENE 1
The opening scene is an excellent platform to see the supernatural in its most common manifestation in Macbeth: the three witches. The first scene introduces the audience to the witches, and Shakespeare uses the witches to set the scene for the rest of the play.
Before the witches even speak, we know this is going to be a dark, intense play from the stage directions. Firstly, thunder and lightning is Shakespeare’s way of using pathetic fallacy to tell us what sort of mood the play has. Thunder and lightning creates a very tense mood, as you never know when the lightning will strike. It will also create a dark sky, making it every scarier. Thunder and lightning also symbolises that everything is not in order, and things aren’t running smoothly.
The second part of the stage directions simply says “Enter THREE WITCHES.” I have already said how fascinated people were with witches in Shakespearean times, and seeing on stage as soon as the play begins would have lit their enthusiasm and grabbed their attention instantaneously.
Witches are of course encompassed by the supernatural. These agents of the devil are there to show that the natural order of things and the natural order of God has been disrupted, and all is not well.
When the Witches begin talking, it becomes apparent that they want to meet with Macbeth, and that things in the play aren’t all well. When they say “when the battle’s lost and won”, these oxymoronic statements show that everything is upside down, and that one thing can quite easily mean the other. It emerges that they will meet again with Macbeth upon the heath before the set of the sun, meaning today. They also talk about their “demons”, Paddock and Greymalkin, a toad and a cat. People at the time believed witches kept pets to spy on people so they could posses them. James I wrote about it in his book.
The language that witches use and the way they talk is quite unusual, and shows why the three have been branded “The Wyrd Sisters”. When the witches are talking, they never talk in iambic pentameter, the usual pattern of Shakespeare’s writing. The iambic pentameter symbolises a natural rhythm, and the disruption of this rhythm demonstrates the natural order of things has been disrupted. This is very similar to Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking in Act 5 Scene 1. Also, the witches’ phrases seem to carry on from one another. An example of this is when Witch 2 says “When the battle’s lost and won”, and Witch 3 immediately replies “That will be the ere the set of sun.” This sort of language could mean that they are all part of one body, and controlled by one greater power, namely the Devil. It also could be seen to show that the witches are using telepathic powers to communicate with one another. The people of Shakespearean times were firm believers that witches could communicate with each other through the power of their minds, and James I also wrote about it in his book The Demonology.
The penultimate line in this scene, “Fair is foul, and foul is fair” once again shows how one thing can mean the other, and that the witches are turning over God’s natural order.
The first scene in this play isn’t very long at all, but in it Shakespeare manages to tell us an awful lot about the nature of the play, and sets the scene well for the rest of the play.
This haunting scene shows the final degeneration of Lady Macbeth, in which the supernatural plays an important part in conveying the full extent of Lady Macbeth’s troubles.
Prior to this scene, Lady Macbeth has never let her cover slip. She has remained “th’innocent flower” in public, and only alone or with Macbeth has she been “the serpent under’t”. This is the first point where she subconsciously lets her facade slip. Only when she says she would have murdered Duncan “had he not resembles / [her] father as he slept” does the audience see she has the tiny piece of humanity, and the audience also sees a glimpse of her guilt when she says that “Naught’s had, all’s spent, / Where our desire is got without consent.” Apart from these two comments, Lady Macbeth has appeared strong and not let her front slip, so it is a great shock to see her so vulnerable and weak in such a verbal and visual way.
The stage directions of this scene are “Enter a DOCTOR OF PHYSIC and a WAITING-GENTLEWOMAN.”
The fact that there is a Doctor is a concern to the audience, because a doctor is only ever present when someone is ill (nature being disordered), or there is a need to stave off death. Also, a waiting-gentlewoman suggests that Lady Macbeth that has to depend on someone else, which is a huge contrast to her ever-independent personality, especially since the waiting-gentlewoman is of a lower status to herself. So just by the stage directions, we know that Lady Macbeth is in need of help.
We are also aware of that Lady Macbeth is troubled from the conversation between the Doctor and waiting-gentlewoman. For a start, it turns out that that the pair have been watching Lady Macbeth for two nights now. The fact that Lady Macbeth has let people watch her without her realising shows how vulnerable she is because she doesn’t know what information she is giving to the audience. The gentlewoman then goes on to tell the Doctor (and the audience) a list of what Lady Macbeth has done “Since his majesty went into the field”. The fact that she automatically throws “her night-gown upon her” suggests that she is subconsciously ashamed of herself and has a desire to conceal her true self. This is a very effective insight to Lady Macbeth’s inner thoughts, although this is lost in the Polanski version of Macbeth, where she appears naked.
This essay has already discussed how Macbeth is full of oxymorons and contradictions, and this scene is no exception. When the waiting-gentlewoman talks about how Lady Macbeth has managed to complete all these actions that usually occur when people are awake (she manages to “unlock he closet, take forth paper” etc.), it is highly strange for anyone to do them “in a most fast sleep”. This is another way of Shakespeare showing that nature has been disrupted.
The Doctor explains it well that there has to be “A great perturbation in nature, to receive at once the benefit of sleep, and do the effects of watching!” He then follows this with the oxymoronic “slumbery agitation”, another sign of a natural rhythm being overturned. Lady Macbeth’s actions are also full of contradictions, as noted by the comments: “her eyes are open” ... “but their senses are still shut”; and also “she has spoke what she should not”, displaying once again the fact that she has no control over what people hear her say. Finally, the fact that the servant won’t tell the Doctor what she has seen her do previously heightens the suspense.
When Lady Macbeth finally arrives onstage, the stage directions say “with a taper.” The taper could resemble her isolation, a small candle in a dark room, or it could emphasise her desire for light, in contrast too her “dark desires”. It would also give extra meaning to Macbeth’s famous “out, out brief candle” speech, which he gave just after the news of his wife’s death.
Sleepwalking is unnatural, as a natural bodily cycle is being interrupted. The audience may have seen this as supernatural possession, possibly by the witches, which would have made the scene even more intense.
When Lady Macbeth is in her “slumbery agitation” it seems as if she is in another world. The fact that she is being commented on by the Doctor and waiting-woman emphasises her isolation from the rest of the world. Also, the fact that the audience can see hear Lady Macbeth without her knowing will give them a feeling of superiority over her, and make her feel less powerful.
When Lady Macbeth comes onstage the audience is drawn to “how she rubs her hands.” The audience are told that she has been known to do this for a quarter of an hour makes clear the extent of her deterioration.
When Lady Macbeth first speaks, she talks of the imaginary, supernatural “spot” of blood on her hand. This mirrors Macbeth’s hallucination of the “air-drawn dagger”. Lady Macbeth is experiencing what Macbeth has already encountered, but she has suppressed all humanity and compassion in her to such an extent that it has to find a way out, and the only way is when she is unconscious. When Macbeth sees the dagger he appears to have gone mad to the audience, but his cathartic projection of his fears is far healthier.
In this scene, Lady Macbeth’s language has changed dramatically. Her first speech is only four syllables long, but it is in prose, as opposed to the formal iambic pentameter verse. Her speech is disjointed, which represents her isolation from the world. Also, there is so little rhythm to it, although it could be argued that the phrase takes a spondaic form, which would suggest a very disordered state and lack of control. Also, her speech is purposefully bland, reserved for those of a lower status, and most certainly not royalty like herself. This is very similar to Macbeth’s linguistic degeneration, when he addresses the Murderers in prose.
Lady Macbeth’s language is a highly telling manifestation of her degeneration. The contrast between her poetic, calculated persuasion of Act One to the child-like drivel of “The Thane of Fife had a wife”.
Lady Macbeth’s final speech is of a woman who is no longer exists in the present: she is in the past reliving her memories, almost in some horrifying reverie. The fact she is reliving the past is backed up with “there’s knocking at the gate”, reflects a reliving of the last few moments before their act of murder was discovered. The speech is also crammed with repetition, with “come” repeated four times and “to bed” five. Finally, the phrase “give me your hand” is a perfect expression of her feelings towards her husband – she still loves him but she still feels the desire to command and control.
The doctor’s final speech widens the scope of Lady Macbeth’s experiences to take in the whole world: “Foul whisperings are abroad” can be used to apply to the death of Lady Macbeth herself, but can also relate to the supernatural side-effects of Macbeth’s regicide. After the degeneration of Lady Macbeth, one of the most powerful and vivid character in all of drama, it is the lowly doctor who talks in poetry, not his usual prose. “Unnatural deeds/ Do breed unnatural troubles” sums up the play brilliantly, but a terrifying reminder of the consequences the Macbeths have to live with.
SECTION SEVEN: conclusion
This essay has looked at Shakespeare’s use of the supernatural in great detail, commenting on it in a thematic, dramatic and audience-specific sense and focusing in extra detail on Act 1 Scene 1 and Act 5 Scene 1.
Shakespeare makes excellent use of the supernatural through witches, hallucinations, prophecies, somnambulance and freak weather. Whether they dominate the scene or not, the many manifestations of the supernatural are used precisely and effectively to add an extra dimension to Macbeth.
