The Elizabethans believed strongly in the existence of spirits. Spirits are portrayed in Macbeth as agents of evil who listen to murderous plans. They are a key part of Lady Macbeth’s descent into insanity. That Lady Macbeth would attempt to communicate with spirits (“Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts”), let alone ask them to take away her female qualities (“unsex me here” “Come to my woman’s breasts and take my milk for gall”) would have been alarming for the Elizabethans. By summoning spirits you shunned God, and all things Christian and good. Lady Macbeth uses dark, vivid imagery in abundance (“Make thick my blood” “Come, thick night, and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell”). Today we do not find spirits terrifying, and the invocation of spirits is not taken seriously.
Today many people do not believe in the existence of heaven and hell, but in Elizabethan times, the church had enormous power, and the threat of hell was a powerful bargaining tool. Vivid images of hell were common in churches and people were so shocked by them that they aspired to be better Christians. When Macduff shouts “Up, up and see the great doom’s image” in Act 2 Scene 3, Shakespeare could have been referring to the painting of the Day of Judgement (when the fate of human souls was decided upon) which is painted on the wall of the Guild Chapel in Stratford-upon-Avon, next door to his old school. Such paintings were often referred to as dooms, and ‘doom’ is exactly what they showed, with ample amounts of torture and flames. Even though the Macbeths in Macbeth do wrong, they are constantly aware of the threat of hell, and ask for darkness to shroud their evil deeds. This awareness is especially clear when we are introduced to Lady Macbeth and she summons the evil spirits ( “Come, thick night and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell- That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark to cry, “Hold, hold!””) Macbeth himself also asks for the stars to hold their fires to hide his deeds.
Although spirits, witches and hell no longer scare us, the “human” element of the supernatural is still as frightening today as it was in Elizabethan times, murder especially is frequent in Macbeth and is perhaps so frightening because it took so long for justice to prevail. Justice is fairly swift today in comparison to Elizabethan times, so it is shocking to a modern audience that Macbeth killed so many innocents with little lawful consequence. The first to be murdered in Macbeth is the elderly and trusting King Duncan, Macbeth, or rather Lady Macbeth had planned that the guards should be blamed for the murder, but when Macbeth went to slay Duncan, the guards – despite being drunk, saw him, and so Macbeth killed both the guards – the witnesses, saying in Act 2 Scene 3 “that I did kill them” and “who can be wise, amazed, temperate and furious, loyal and neutral, in a moment? No man! The expedition of my violent love outran the pauser reason.” Here Macbeth is saying that his love for the King and outrage at what had happened made him act hastily without thinking, when of course he killed the guards purely to save his skin. However, the Macbeths manage to pull off the murder, despite their abnormal reactions to the news of Duncan’s death. Lady Macbeth responded to the news by saying “woe, alas!” and “what! In our house?” Macbeth responded with what was obviously a very prepared speech;
“Had I but died an hour before this chance, I had lived a blessèd time – for, from this instant there’s nothing serious in mortality. All is but toys: renown and grace is dead – The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees is left this vault to brag of.” (Act 2 Scene 3)
The guards are the last people that Macbeth murders with his own hands, after he is crowned King, Macbeth hires murderers to kill his best friend Banquo. Macbeth knows that Banquo suspects him of killing the king. It is frightening that suspicion and ambition could drive a person to murder their best friend. Next, Macbeth orders the merciless massacre of Macduff’s family and all the tenants of his keep. It is ironic that Macbeth, who was praised for his skill as a great warrior and rewarded by the King for killing so many in battle, later kills the King. Shakespeare subtly shows us in the play, that we, as a race believe that killing in battle is acceptable. When in battle you fight for your life, your opponent is a threat to you. In a same way Macbeth believed that all his people were a threat, and thus was compelled to protect himself. The killing went far too far when Macbeth killed Macduff’s family, this was no longer murder as a form of protection, this was murder for murder’s sake. Cruel, heartless and unnecessary; this is the part in the play where we establish that Macbeth has finally lost control.
When Macbeth tells his wife that they must not go ahead with their plan to kill the king, she accuses him of being a coward. She declares that she would rather kill her own baby than break a promise. She taunts and manipulates Macbeth until he agrees, certainly both Elizabethan and modern audiences would find Lady Macbeth’s behaviour frightening, but the truly frightening thing, is the amount of power she has over Macbeth. If Macbeth was so easily persuaded to do something he knew was wrong, then how little persuasion would we ourselves need? Here are some arguments that Lady Macbeth uses to manipulate Macbeth into killing Duncan (Act 1 Scene 7):
“Was the hope drunk, wherein you dressed yourself? Hath it slept since? And wakes it now to look so green and pale at what it did so freely? From this time such I account they love.”
“What beast was’t then that made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man! And, to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man.”
“I have given suck, and know how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums, and dashed the brains out! – had I so sworn as you have done to this.”
By using these taunts, Lady Macbeth wanted Macbeth to feel guilty about being such a coward. She used love as a bargaining tool, as a kind of test – if you really loved me and were a true man you would kill Duncan.
Hallucinations and madness are the final elements of the supernatural in Macbeth. Hallucinations; often associated with madness, are a window to the subconscious level of our minds. When Shakespeare wrote Macbeth very little was known about hallucinations and madness, Lady Macbeth advised Macbeth to bottle his feelings up and she did the same, and it drove them both mad. (Act 3 Scene 2) “How now my lord? Why do you keep alone, of sorriest fancies your companions making using those thoughts which should indeed have died with them they think on? Things without remedy should be without regard. What’s done is done.”
In conclusion, modern and Elizabethan audiences are not frightened or entertained in the same way by the supernatural. Elizabethans were genuinely frightened by witches and spirits and today we are not, though Elizabethans and modern audiences are entertained by witches and spirits. However, madness, hallucinations, manipulation and murder are still as frightening today as they ever were, and are not in any way entertaining because they could happen to us. The Macbeths were normal people with ambition and because of one stupid “prophecy” their lives were ruined by the witches.
