After the prophecies of the witches in the first scene the next supernatural occurrence happens in Act one scene three. The witches again enter with cosmic chaos only later to be joined by Macbeth and Banquo. The act of supernatural takes over and the witches begin to prophesise the futures of the two men before them. The supernatural makes Banquo uneasy, but makes Macbeth have a positive outlook as he has been told that he will become king.
‘First witch: all hail Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Glamis!
Second witch: all hail Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!
Third witch: all hail thee, that shalt be king hereafter!’
By the witches adding the idea of power, they are trying to persuade his subconscious to the level of attempting murder.
In Act one scene five, lady Macbeth has her own supernatural part when she calls upon the ‘spirits’ to ‘unsex’ her. She wants all her feminine qualities to be replaced with masculine ones. Without feminine qualities its makes Lady Macbeth unnatural and therefore supernatural. Upon hearing what the witches said to Macbeth she used her powers of deception and the spirits to persuade Macbeth that the only way to gain power was to cease it, therefore killing Duncan.
In Act two scene one when the murder took place, Macbeth foresees a floating dagger before him,
‘Is this a dagger which I see before me.’
As the dagger is covered in blood, he is not sure whether it is telling him to kill Duncan. He cannot understand why he can see it but not touch it, and questions his sanity. This supernatural occurrence may have pushed Macbeth towards the murder but shows his mental instability.
In Act three scene three the murder of Banquo has been committed. In the following scene there is a supernatural occurrence where the guilt of Macbeth is shown by the ghost of Banquo appearing at the banquet to celebrate Macbeth’s coronation. As Macbeth throws the banquet into turmoil by seeing Banquo’s ghost, in whom no one else can see, Lady Macbeth is trying to keep an organized atmosphere. The supernatural activity causes great disturbance with Macbeth almost giving him away as the murderer of Duncan and Banquo,
‘Thou canst not say I did it; never shake
Thy gory locks at me.’
In Act three scene five, the witches enter again bringing in a new supernatural character, Hecate. She acts as the leader of the witches and scolds them for not including her with the dealings of Macbeth. The part played by the supernatural here is a less important part as it only introduces Hecate to the audience for later references to her. However it does tell us that they are planning to lead Macbeth into a downfall by making him over confident in himself,
‘And you all know security
Is mortals’ chiefest enemy,’
and a tyrant.
In Act four scene one, there is the main part played by the supernatural. When Macbeth goes to the witches cave, they predict the future of Macbeth by three apparitions. The first apparition is of an armed head. The audience were to comprehend that Macbeth should be wary of Macduff and the prediction of a battle, but may have also seen the bloody head as Macduff’s,
‘Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth beware
Macduff;
Beware the Thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough.’
The second apparition is of a bloody child. The audience were to think that Macbeth cannot be killed by any one, who is born of a woman, meaning anyone of a natural birth and not a caesarean (Macduff) cannot kill him, but the audience may of seen the head belonging to Fleance, Macduff or Macduff’s son,
‘The power of man, for none of woman born
Shall harm Macbeth.’
The third apparition is of a child crowned, with a tree in his hand. The audience portrays the child as Malcolm, who is crowned king at the end by concealing his army in branches to make a surprise attack on Macbeth, by making what Macbeth sees as impossible happen,
‘Macbeth shall never vanquished be, until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him.’
Macbeth takes all the apparitions the wrong way and thinks that any human cannot kill him and that forests don’t move so he is invincible. The apparitions therefore played Hecate’s part of the supernatural and made Macbeth over confident, therefore causing his own down fall. The audience however knows differently as in the previous act we learnt that Macduff has gone to raise troops and bring down Macbeth. The effect of this act on the audience is to put some unease in their minds as they do not yet know the Macduff was of a caesarean birth.
The parts that were played by the supernatural in this play were around the main characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Without the witches, apparitions and visions it would be hard to tell whether Macbeth would have taken the same actions. With each supernatural encounter that Macbeth had, it turned him into a more harmful character and vulnerable to influences, like the witches,
‘And betimes I will, to the weird sisters.’
