Lady Macbeth is very superstitious. She calls upon the spirits of darkness to take away her natural womanliness and to fill her instead with bitterness, wickedness and cruelty.
‘…unsex me here, And fill me…Of direst cruelty..’ Act 1 scene 5, p63 line 39
This unnerves the audience, as she has changed from being normal to being possessed by the devil. Not only is Macbeth intimidated by her power over him but also so is the audience. She wants no natural feelings of guilt or conscience to get in the way of her plans. Although when the time comes to kill Duncan she says she cannot do it herself as he reminds her of her father. Lady Macbeth is very controlling of Macbeth. Her persuading to kill the king has been crucial. Lady Macbeth’s ruthless determination overcomes his doubts. She seems to have joined forces with evil. She doesn’t want the chance of making her husband king slip away. She is forceful and conjures images of horror in her language, for when she tells him that if, like him, she had sworn to do something, then, before she would go back on her word, she would pluck her own baby from suckling milk at her nipple and dash its brains out. She has been granted her wish to be filled with evil.
The dagger is another form of the supernatural. Macbeth sees the dagger when he is alone on the battlements. It is covered in blood, with the handle pointing towards him.
‘Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle towards my hand?’
It gives the impression that it is inviting Macbeth to the murder of Duncan. This gives us a window into Macbeth’s mind. Is it only a figment of Macbeth’s diseased mind or is it real? There is no evidence to say that it is. Macbeth questions himself on his own sanity. In most stage productions the audience will be able to see the dagger so they will be able to have their own fear of what is about to happen and have a clearer view on Macbeth’s reaction.
Macbeth becomes suspicious of Banquo and is worried by the witches’ prophecies that his children will be kings. He decides to have him and his son Fleance killed. Banquo’s ghost is one of the main forms of the supernatural in Macbeth. Macbeth fears him because Banquo has come to accuse him of his murder. Only Macbeth and the audience can see Banquo’s ghost, the audience doesn’t know whether it is a vision of guilt from Macbeth’s own mind, a sign of evil nature or a sign sent from the witches. Banquo’s ghost sits in Macbeth’s seat, this is telling Macbeth that he is not the rightful king and does not deserve a place at the table. This totally throws Macbeth who points at the ghost and says he was not the one who stabbed him.
‘Thou canst snot say I did it; never shake Thy gory locks at me.’ p125 line 50
Lady Macbeth manages to protect her husband by telling the guests that he is not well and often has these ‘funny turns’.
The apparitions are yet another form of the supernatural in Macbeth. Here the witches manipulate Macbeth with another set of accurate but damning prophecies, the first of which leads to the callous murder of the Macduff family, the other to unfounded confidence. The first apparition is an armed head, it tells Macbeth’s thoughts, and says beware of Macduff.
The second apparition is of a bloody child. It tells Macbeth that he cannot be killed by anyone ‘born of woman’. This relieves Macbeth as he thinks he has no reason to fear Macduff, but unknown to Macbeth, Macduff was ‘from his mother’s womb untimely ripped’.
The third apparition is of a child crowned with a tree in his hand. He tells Macbeth that he will never be beaten until Great Birnam wood comes towards Dunsaine hill. Again Macbeth thinks he is perfectly fine as woods are unable to move.
‘Who can impress the forest?… Unfix his earth-bound route?’ p 147 line 96
Two of the three apparitions are children. Macbeth is scared of children, as he fears what they might grow into. The child is Malcom, who later on in the play orders his army to conceal its size by hiding behind branches from Birnam Wood. At the end Malcom is crowned king.
The apparitions don’t really shock Macbeth, as he believes that they can’t humanly be possible. He only becomes shocked when he is shown a vision of the future- eight kings and Banquo. He finds it painful to look at what the witches are showing him. He sees a row of kings stretched out in front of him and Banquo pointing at each one of them showing that they are his descendants. Macbeth’s worst fears have been realised.
The imagery of night is used throughout the play. It is used to hide evil deeds that are about to be committed. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are creatures of the dark because darkness symbolises treachery, cruelty and evil. Macbeth tells the stars to hide their fires and Lady Macbeth calls up the blackest smoke from Hell to hide her actions. But by the end of the play Lady Macbeth has become afraid of the dark and needs a candle by her side all night long. They use the cover of night to hide their doing of wrong. Although he hides the truth from his wife of how he wants Banquo killed, he asks the night to wrap round the sun and bring darkness so evil can be performed.
‘Come seeling night, Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day,’
Another form of the supernatural is in the disturbance of nature. After the murder of Duncan, nature goes wrong. The murder has poisoned nature. Darkness strangles the daylight, birds of prey are killed by what they normally hunt and Duncan’s horses eat each other.
‘A falcon towering in her pride of place Was by a mousing owl hawked at, and killed’ Act 2 scene 4 p101 line 12
‘And Duncan’s horses…War with Mankind.’ Act 2 scene 4 p 101 line 14
There are thunderstorms and earthquakes, more signs of nature going wrong. These actions in nature would frighten the audience and make them feel uncomfortable. It also adds to the atmosphere of the play, making it seems more dark and sinister. Disturbances in the skies were thought to indicate rebellion in kingdoms, trouble in men’s minds, and the forces of good loosing to evil.
Also what is another crucial point is how the people in the early 17th century believed in the supernatural. At the time to present Macbeth in the grip of devilish powers would not have been thought to be unrealistic. They believed in witchcraft and all forms of supernatural and were all extremely superstitious.
Without the supernatural within ‘Macbeth’, this play would not be the great tragedy that it is. Macbeth would still be the character he was at the start of the play, a brave soldier, loyal. Without the witches and their prophecies Macbeth’s hunger for ambition would never have materialised and would never have committed any murders. The audience would never have been able to explore Macbeth’s mind and would not have gone through the different emotions that the play presents them, fear, terror, pity these are only a few of them. Nothing would have been affected, because it is all provoked by the supernatural, and without it, the play would not be interesting in the slightest. Macbeth’s transformation of character is psychologically convincing. The supernatural is imposed on him from the outside but change him inwardly.