Throughout the play the witches speak with rhythm and in verse; ‘Here I have a pilot’s thumb, Wrecked, as homeward he did come,’ ‘ by the pricking of my thumbs Something wicked this way comes!’ This device makes the witches seem more supernatural as it feels like they are constantly talking in spells and riddles. Also, the fact that the witch has a pilot’s thumb shows they are brutal and evil, as she has chopped off the man’s thumb with no thought about it. The witches also speak in unison, mainly when chanting their evil spell ‘double, double, toil and trouble – Fire burn and cauldron bubble!’ the effect of this is it makes them seem like one mass of evil, they have united together to be even more powerful.
The witches’ apparitions scene is yet again in thunder to represent evil doings. They are in a ‘shadowy cavern’, which is probably silent apart from the ‘steaming cauldron at its centre.’ The witches do a ‘wild dance’ around this cauldron, singing a spell to complete their magic potion they are brewing. This use of loud singing contrasting with the silence around them draws attention to what they are doing and makes it seem more sinister. The first apparition is an armoured head rising above the cauldron. The fact that the only noise heard would be the rumbling of thunder in the distance and the booming voice of the apparition makes it much more frightening and dramatic. The second apparition is a blood stained child rising from the cauldron. In a play, acted out this was probably very disturbing and an effective technique to emphasise how sinister the event is. This apparition makes Macbeth believe no human can kill him, however we know the witches are tricking him as someone born by caesarean is not ‘woman born.’ Again, in the third apparition, the witches are using equivocal language, yet Macbeth does not apprehend this trickery. This use of trickery on Macbeth shows us how knowledgeable the witches are and emphasises the power of the supernatural witches.
Lady Macbeth calls on evil spirits to fill her ‘from the crown to the toe, top-full of direst cruelty’ so that she can help Macbeth kill Duncan, as she believes he is too good-natured. Shakespeare uses shocking language to portray this event:
‘Stop up th’ access and passage to remorse’
‘Come to my woman’s breasts, and take my milk for gall, you murdering ministers.’ This alliteration is used to reinforce the meaning of the line, to emphasize just how sinister and evil this deed is. This image is disturbing, as she wants her milk to be turned to poison so that any baby she has will be killed.
‘ I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums, and dashed the brains out!’ This image is also extremely disturbing, as she would ruthlessly murder her own child; this shows she has lost all her morals. The use of the harsh words ‘dashed the brains out’ is put in to shock us and to make us scared of Lady Macbeth’s state of mind. It puts stress on the fact that Lady Macbeth is turning evil; fair is becoming foul.
The fact that she wants to change her sex to become more evil and that she is calling on evil spirits in the first place shows she is quite evil herself. All this language is shocking to the audience, its makes us realise just how immoral Lady Macbeth is and that she will not stop at anything to get power, she is ruthless and potentially unstoppable. Her cry to the spirits is quite poetic, linking it to the supernatural as it sounds like an incantation. At this point, Lady Macbeth is calling on the evil spirits, she is below them, the evil is more powerful than the good.
Visions and hallucinations are used throughout Macbeth. At the beginning of the scene where Macbeth commits the murder of Duncan, he is debating with himself whether to go through with it. He then has a vision of a blood-stained dagger pointing in the direction of Duncan’s room, ‘thou marshall’st me the way that I was going- and such an instrument I was to use.’ He believes this is an omen; a sign that he should commit he murder. Just as he decides to leave, a bell rings, it ‘invites’ Macbeth; it is a ‘knell that summons thee (Duncan) to heaven or to hell.’ This vision could be a figure of his imagination; unleashing his evil aspirations, or it could be the witches toying with Macbeth’s mind. This scene is set when ‘the moon is down’ and the heaven’s candles are ‘all out.’ Note how Macbeth is hardly seen in daylight. This symbolises his potential evil, he is a volcano that can erupt any time. This use of darkness is key to the scene as dark represents evil and Macbeth is about to commit a very evil deed.
Sound is also used well in the event of Duncan’s death. All that can be heard is animals of the night, an ‘owl that shrieked’ and crickets crying. Crickets’ chirping was thought to foretell death. Both these animals are associated with evil nights and witchcraft. The adjectives used (shrieked and crying) also signify suffering and death. The way Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s words are short and swift adds tension to the scene and emphasises the eerie silence of the night. Following this scene, Lennox talks of the ‘unruly’ night, how he heard ‘strange screams of death’ ‘prophesying with accents terrible of dire combustion.’ He pronounces, ‘Some say the earth was feverous, and did shake.’ Shakespeare is personifying the earth to accentuate the evil that occurred and how there was so much; the earth itself was powerless to it. Shakespeare again refers to animals associated with the night; Lennox talks of the ‘obscure bird’ that ‘clamoured the livelong night’; the presence of the owl signifies the supernatural. The effect of this is that we feel the presence of the supernatural whenever evil events occur, to accentuate its continual dominant power throughout the play.
The main vision is Banquo’s ghost in the banquet scene. Shakespeare uses shocking images to portray this event, the bloody state of Banquo’s ghost and Macbeth appearing to have gone insane. The actor of Macbeth will be utterly bewildered and look quite insane talking to a ghost he can see, ‘Thou hast no speculation in those eyes which thou dost glare with!’ but that is not visible to anyone else, ‘What sights, my lord?’ This device is used to emphasise Macbeth’s weak state of mind, as it clearly shows us he is petrified when he sees the ghost, crying out ‘Which of you have done this?’ ‘Thou canst not say I did it! Never shake thy gory locks at me!’ Macbeth sees Banquo in a bloody, ‘gory’ state as a ghost, which shows he was brutally murdered. As Macbeth is horrified when he sees Banquo’s ghost, this shows us Macbeth’s morals have not been completely twisted and still has human emotions unlike Lady Macbeth who was ‘unsexed’ by the sinister supernatural spirits. This shows the power of the supernatural goes beyond natural forces as it can affect and control natural emotions, morals and actions.
Throughout the play, Shakespeare uses continual references to the devil, this use of language adds to the sinister supernatural feel. For example, in this scene Macbeth states ‘that dare look on that which might appal the devil.’ This emphasises the evil that Macbeth has become, and also shows us he is quite proud, as he says in a bragging tone that he is more evil than the devil itself!
Dramatic irony is also used in this scene, as the audience and Macbeth know that he has killed Banquo, yet the lords and even Lady Macbeth do not know he is dead. Dramatic irony is used to get the audience more involved, for example, at pantomimes they use dramatic irony when we see the ‘bad character’ behind the ‘good character’ we shout out to the actor. In Shakespearian times, the plays were acted out in theatres and those who could not afford seats would have to stand, so, the effect of this dramatic irony is that it gets the audience involved and keeps them interested in the play; they know something other characters in the play don’t.
In the sleepwalking scene, Lady Macbeth is described as having a ‘great perturbation in nature’ and the doctor states that ‘unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles.’ Lady Macbeth is clearly troubled. While sleepwalking, she is seen to be trying to scrub blood spots off her hands ‘out, damned spot! Out, I say!’ she wants her conscience to be clear but this will never be so; ‘will these hands ne’er be clean?’ The use of the word ‘unnatural’ hints that the forces of supernatural have in a way, lead Lady Macbeth to her death. She tried to use supernatural power but the force was too great for a natural being.
The use of light and dark is very effective in this scene. Her gentlewoman reports that Lady Macbeth ‘has a light by her continually’ this shows us that she has gone from evil and sinister calling the ‘thick night’ to ‘pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell’ to wanting the light to be with her constantly, she wants to be good again.
Macbeth’s grotesque murdering is accompanied by a number of unnatural occurrences in the natural realm. From the thunder and lightning that accompany the witches’ appearances to the terrible storms that rage on the night of Duncan’s murder, these violations of the natural order reflect twisted morals and orders. The descriptions of the weather add to the scenes, for example the storms that occur when the witches are present add tension and fear, they show us how powerful the witches are that they can control weather.
All these devices lead me to believe that from beginning to end, the witches are the most powerful and callous characters. They outwit Macbeth who is meant to be the hero of the play, driving him to his death from the inside. They are referred to as ‘juggling fiends’, which is a very accurate description; they have used trickery and practiced deception. They have used trickery for a dishonest end; where the hero who should be ‘good’ has had his morals twisted to, in effect, kill himself. Shakespeare is showing us that the supernatural is a whole different realm to man’s world, it is superior and will always be, the witches who have no emotions can not be toyed with, they can not be tricked or broken down from the inside.