Macbeth and Banquo are both shocked by the appearance of the witches as are the audience when they first see the witches. “Speak if you can: what are you?” (I.3.45) From this it is evident that Macbeth is curious as to why the witches look like this and perhaps a bit apprehensive of the answer. In fact throughout the scene Macbeth is perturbed and frightened, unlike Banquo who stays calm however sceptical. The prophecies that they make are that Macbeth will be first Thane of Cawdor and then King of Scotland and Banquo will father Kings. In the previous scene Duncan had already discussed making Macbeth Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth and Banquo however do not know this. The audience therefore are shocked when the witches make this prophesy, as they have been proved right about the Thane of Cawdor, the next stage may be inevitable. When the witches vanish Macbeth and Banquo are still curious and still have questions that they want to ask them, although Macbeth appears a lot more keen than Banquo to hear more “Would they had stayed!” (I.3.80) The premature exit of the witches tantalises the audience as they too wish to know more about the future of Macbeth but are however left wondering what will happen as well as when and how. The audience may also be wary of the witches and worried of how the brave and valiant warrior Macbeth that has been introduced in scene two will react and act upon their prophesises. Macbeth himself appears to be cautious of the witches and their prophecies “This supernatural soliciting cannot be ill, cannot be good.”
In the first two scenes we saw the metaphysical and the physical. The metaphysical was encountered in the very first scene of the play. We then encounter the physical in the next scene in which King Duncan is discussing the tyranny of the thane of Cawdor and Macbeth’s heroic triumph over such tyranny and betrayal. In these first two scenes the two are separate and it is not until Macbeth meets the witches that the two become linked. It is when Banquo says, “Were such things here as we do speak about? Or have we eaten on the insane root that takes reason prisoner?” (I.3.81). After this the next time we encounter the witches themselves is in Act IV, Scene 1. A lot happens before that however that is directly linked with them and their prophecies.
The ghost of Banquo is another supernatural force in the play that is present in Act 3 Scene 4. In this scene the ghost of Banquo appears at a banquet that Macbeth is holding. At the beginning of this scene it is evident that Macbeth is just beginning to feel secure when the murderers that he employed to kill Banquo and Fleance return with the news that Fleance escaped. “I had else been perfect; whole as a marble, founded as a rock, but now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in to saucy doubts and fears.” (III.4.21-25) The language Shakespeare uses here creates a lot of different images for the audience. Macbeth says he is cabined, cribbed and confined in his worry and guilt, unable to forget what he has done. When before he had been starting to forget what he had done, he had been founded and whole. Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo sitting in his chair, which is ironic, as his son will take that chair from him. When Macbeth first sees Banquo’s ghost he says “Thou canst not say I did it; never shake thy gory locks at me!” (III.4.61) In his state of paranoia he imagines they know and have set up the ‘ghost’ to torture him. Macbeth is the only one who sees the ghost so to all the other guests and to the audience that he is going insane. This makes Macbeth increasingly anxious. “There’s not a one of them but in his house I keep a servant feed.” (III.4.131) In this he is implying that he has spies everywhere, this is a measure of this anxiety. It is at the end of this scene when Macbeth realises that he must kill whomever he needs to “Blood will have blood” (III.4.122) This is also when the audience realise the extent of Macbeth’s guilt and begin to appreciate that he is in fact going insane. Thus making the audience more fearful of him and what he will do, especially as he isn’t in the right state of mind.
The dagger that is seen by Macbeth before he kills King Duncan is another instance in which we encounter the supernatural “Is this a dagger which I see before me?” (II.1.33) In this scene Macbeth claims to see a dagger before him although he questions its reality and thus questions his own sanity and if his senses are working “Art thou a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?” (II.1.36). This dagger is a cunning dramatical tool as it lets Macbeth express in his soliloquy just how he is feeling about killing the king. In this soliloquy that is now famous Macbeth expresses his fears but he also allies himself with witchcraft, murder and secrecy. “Witchcraft celebrates Pale Hecate’s off’rings, and withered murder, alarumed by his sentinel, the wolf.” (II.1.51) At the beginning of his soliloquy he experiences horror at the reality of what he is contemplating, but he gives away to resolution. “I go and it is done.” (II.1.62) By this he means his has decided to do the deed after much discussion. He realises that talking isn’t getting him anywhere “While I threat, he lives” (II.1.60). The audience’s perception of the supernatural in this scene is that it has taken over Macbeth’s mind and it has influenced and warped all his senses. It is the supernatural that is making him do this evil deed, as the brave soldier Macbeth would never have even contemplated such a thing before he dabbled in the supernatural.
Macbeth also sees several apparitions when he visits the witches in Act 4, Scene 1. At the beginning of this scene we see the witches making an unpleasant and unchristian broth “Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog.” This is to prepare the audience for the arrival of Macbeth and also to offer some parallel to the wickedness practiced by Macbeth. Macbeth sees these when he goes to visit the witches for a second time. He needs to know more. “Tough the treasure of nature’s german tumble altogether even till destruction sicken: answer me to what I ask you” When he says this he is basically saying even if order is turned to chaos, at any price, tell me. As well as these obvious incidents of the supernatural there is a constant supernatural feeling in the play, a feeling of evil and a disturbance of good and calm. Shakespeare uses “dark” imagery to convey these feelings and create the atmosphere of evil in the play. The witches agree to show Macbeth several apparitions, all of which are obviously symbolic, “Macbeth, Macbeth, Macbeth: beware Macduff.” “The power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth.” “Macbeth shall never vanquished be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him. The apparitions however are taken literally by Macbeth who goes away feeling invincible and with the decision to kill Macduff’s family. This again adds to the tragic element of the play because once again the witches have misled Macbeth.
It is the responsibility of the director to turn these initial feelings of malevolence into ultimately feelings of fear, which are the feelings Shakespeare wanted to incite in his audiences. These supernatural elements of the play are admittedly an important dramatic tool that should be exploited to terrify the audience. As well as being obviously scary the witches and the use of the supernatural element can also be used as tools to scare the audience by the fear of going insane. Fear itself is based on uncertainty, looking for meaning in everything and finding it for example thunder sounds angry so is understood as something being angry.
Insanity and the fear of becoming insane or the fear of not being able to rely on ones own senses is a major fear that is felt as strongly today as it would have been in Shakespearean times. Everyone, then and now, is most afraid of losing their sense of reason, of not being able to see things the way they are – Lady Macbeth almost calls upon the supernatural to make her mad, and Macbeth questions his ability to sense things properly. Fear is thus inspired not only by making the audience anxious about something scary – the supernatural, but by making them feel uneasy that they can’t quite understand what is happening, is it dangerous or not. Hence they would be alert and attentive to all the little echoes and snippets and links that Shakespeare gives them about what is happening. Insanity and the fear of becoming such is an idea explored in several of Shakespeare’s plays for example Hamlet. In Hamlet, Hamlet sees his father’s ghost yet it is not seen by anyone else. This makes him question his own sanity and therefore fear that he is in fact insane.
Today witchcraft is no longer as big a fear as it was four hundred years ago, at least the stereotype of the witch is not scary at all, i.e. The big-nosed, warty, dressed in black, broomstick flying stereotype. Nowadays witches are still a fascination although it is not a crime and many recognise witchcraft and the practising of such as a religion. There have been many films, books and television series done about the supernatural and witchcraft in particular. Today we can explain many more things than was possible in Elizabethan times. Although many people still believe in the supernatural, few really fear it and would be truly terrified by it. People today still love to be scared, this is obvious as every year horror movies are some of the most popular and make the most money.
Macbeth has been adapted several times in recent years by several different directors who have all interpreted the supernatural in different ways. The fundamental purpose of the supernatural however is kept the same, to entertain and terrify. In Trevor Nunn’s 1978 adaptation he uses a sparse and simple look using contemporary costumes and a bare, circular stage to focus attention on the intense imagery of the play’s language. In this the sparse scenery concentrates the attention of the audience as the language in Shakespearean plays and Macbeth in particular is more important than the plot and the scenery. The witches in this were portrayed as drooling and incomprehensible haggard and possibly insane women. As a modern day audience we react to this in fear of becoming like that instead of coming across women like that. The witches in this production are almost disgusting and make the audience feel uneasy.
In Roman Polanski’s 1971 film there is a lot more colour, music and there is much more background detail than in the 1978 Nunn version. Polanski concentrates on the brutality of the society that Macbeth lived in for example he depicts bear baiting as an enjoyable activity. The scenery however detailed is still bare and desolate. The landscape is that which suggests life in it is a constant battle to stay alive, one can see that living in those conditions would not be pleasant and if most people would have taken a way out if it had been offered to them, this is what happens to Macbeth, he is offered greatness, power and everything that comes with that, he immediately takes it, not thinking about the consequences. When watching this one gets a feeling that there was an ongoing battle between order and chaos and that one evil thing in this case from the witches can lead to chaos. Overall Polanski tries to appeal to today’s audiences by exploiting the murders etc. and showing them in gruesome detail, for instance he shows the killing of Macbeth, something Shakespeare did not do. The Orson Welles’ 1948 version of Macbeth that later became known as the “voodoo” Macbeth. Set in the Caribbean, the film creates a dark and menacing atmosphere and he uses the supernatural to establish and maintain this atmosphere. Welles’ in comparison to Polanski presents a battle between good and evil, between Christianity and paganism. He achieves this by presenting King Duncan as a very Christian man and the witches as an unchristian and corrupting force. Welles’ never actually show the witches and instead uses lighting techniques to obscure their faces, thus making the audience’s imaginations create their own images. The most entertaining and watch able of these three for a contemporary audience is the Roman Polanski version as this appeals greatly to a contemporary audience as it shows a lot of strong images. It is full of action and is a bit gruesome and harrowing in parts.
If I were to direct Macbeth for a contemporary audience I would definitely use the supernatural to scare the audience both psychologically and physically. The first thing I would want to accomplish as director would be to make the audience identify and empathize with Macbeth, if I achieve this initial identification then ultimately, inciting fear into them will be easy. I would make the audience feel Macbeth’s fear of both going insane and the witches. I would also want to make the audience sympathise with him and I would hope they’d see that Macbeth is ambitious however has been sucked into the supernatural; he wants fame and power however he doesn’t want the consequences. As I consider the supernatural to be at the root of all that goes wrong for Macbeth and eventually Scotland. I would leave the witches on the stage throughout the production, as the witches are the personification of all that is supernatural and evil in this play. Having the witches on stage throughout the play would serve as a constant reminder as to the reason for what was happening. The supernatural element that I would make most use of would be the banquet scene in which Macbeth sees the ghost of Banquo, however only Macbeth sees the ghost so he appears to be going insane. Insanity and the fear of becoming such would be the main focus of my play as I consider this to be the only fear in Macbeth that is still very much a fear today. In the Banquet scene I wouldn’t show a ghost and instead I would show Macbeth going insane as I imagine this’d be a more effective way of conveying Macbeth’s fear. I would take advantage of the dark and grotesque imagery that is said by Macbeth. I would also exploit the fear of insanity in the scene in which Macbeth sees the dagger before him. I wouldn’t show the dagger and instead show Macbeth try to clutch thin air. I would present the witches much like Orson Welles’ did in his forty’s adaptation i.e. I would only show the back of them and use dark light to obscure their faces as this was a very effective technique that Welles’ employed as how the audience imagine the witches to be behind the light is far worse than make up or masks could achieve. Doing this also portrays the witches as mysterious and secretive, it also intrigues the audience and they are left wanting to know more as Macbeth was. I would not show the apparitions to the audience, this way the audience would only know as much as Macbeth, thus maintaining the identification and achieving further fears and enjoyment.
Despite society and what frightens society having changed considerably since Macbeth was written it can still be a very frightening play. Although the task of using the supernatural to entertain and terrify would have been easier to do for an Elizabethan audience it can still be used to do this for a contemporary audience. If an audience is willing to be scared and modern day technology such as lighting and sound are used effectively this task would be achieved and the audience would therefore be suitably scared and definitely entertained.
