Supernatural events occur throughout Macbeth - Analyse the dramatic devices Shakespeare uses to portray these events, their ef

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Supernatural events occur throughout Macbeth – Analyse the dramatic devices Shakespeare uses to portray these events, their effectiveness and their function

Like many others during the Renaissance period, James I was immensely fascinated with witchcraft and the supernatural. Belief in witchcraft had long existed in the British Isles, and James was not the first ruler to take such superstition seriously. Just as he believed that kings were chosen by God and granted their throne by divine right, James also believed that the Devil and his followers sought to destroy royal power by means of evil spells. Witch hunts and burnings flourished during his reign, and the king himself personally oversaw many witch trials and executions. Taking into account the King’s intrigue and fascination with the supernatural, Shakespeare wrote the play ‘Macbeth’ for James I following Queen Elizabeth’s death, entwining themes of witchcraft and the supernatural within the story.

        The play opens with the three ‘withered’ and ‘wild in attire’ witches in thunder and lightening. Shakespeare is using pathetic fallacy; the weather is reflecting the supernatural and evil events occurring. It was believed in superstitious times that storms were signs of dreadful events to come. The witches talk of the war that Macbeth is fighting in, as ‘hurlyburly’; this makes them seem more powerful and above that of normal beings as they disregard it without a care. The witches are planning to meet Macbeth on his return from battle; this immediately links Macbeth to the supernatural and forces of evil. I think Shakespeare begins the play with the witches to capture the audience’s attention and make them anticipate the rest of the play. The fact that the witches plan to meet Macbeth in foul weather at ‘the set of the sun’ leads us to believe he is in danger because we associate the dark with evil doings and also Macbeth will find it harder to protect himself at night, he will be at a disadvantage. Shakespeare is making us empathise with Macbeth; he is making us fear as to the fate of the protagonist. At this point, when he is ‘good’, Macbeth will find it harder to fight and protect himself, whereas the witches want to meet at a dark time because they are ‘evil’ and are at their best in the demonic dark. Light and dark obviously reflects good and evil, as, towards the beginning of the play, Macbeth is always seen in daylight, when his morals are good. Subsequently, he only appears at night time when his morals have become twisted.

In this opening scene the witches speak maybe the most significant line of the play, ‘fair is foul, and foul is fair’, this shows events to come will be confused and there will be moral deterioration. It is a warning to the audience that things to come are not what they seem. The prophecies made by the witches are like riddles, since they do not always mean what they seem to mean.

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        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 ...

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