Visions form throughout the play; are they the workings of a guilty conscience or are greater forces manipulating Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s minds? The weïrd sisters are already known to influence Macbeth via prophecies, why not through visions? The “air-drawn dagger” is a classical allusion and acts like a catalyst for Duncan’s murder. Macbeth tries to interact with the dagger by touching it, controlling it, but, like the weïrd sisters it just leads him on to commit evil deeds. Lady Macbeth also suffers from visions; she sees blood on her hands and, in her sleeping state, moans of the underworld: “Hell is murky”. This implies that she is seeing hell. In a quest for power Lady Macbeth had given herself to the evil spirits and has even invited them to “take my milk for gall”. The spirits have possessed her and appear to be torturing her in her sleep. Ironically she originally called on the spirits to give her strength, to “unsex” her, but they weaken her and ultimately cause her downfall. These evil spirits could easily be the witches.
Although Lady Macbeth seems to have a stronger mental character at the start of the play and appears to be dominant (which was quite a feat in the andocentric society of Shakespeare), she is now suffering from remorse and confusion. She feels, “Tis safer to be that which we destroy than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy”. Lady Macbeth describes the supernatural as her, “destruction”, and she refers to her royalty and wealth as, “doubtful joy”. This quote from Lady Macbeth shows how even the most desperate of people regret relying on the supernatural. At the beginning of Act 5 Scene 1 Macbeth is informed of Lady Macbeth’s death. Macbeth shows no emotion or extra stress, this suggests that he doesn’t really care. This scene, though it is not directly linked with the supernatural, shows how selfish Macbeth has become due it.
Banquo’s ghost could also have been the witches’ working; “that dare look on that/ Which might appal the devil.” The vision pushes Macbeth to lose his head in front of the noblemen and Lady Macbeth finally looses her control over him. Macbeth is so incredibly unnerved by this he seems to completely lose touch with reality. When his wife tries to calm him down, he does not even acknowledge her presence. Perhaps Macbeth now blames Lady Macbeth for suggesting the initial plan to murder Duncan and turns against her. This could be the witches’ intention; as to bring Macbeth to a final meeting so he can hear the last prophesies.
The images that appear to Macbeth when he returns to the witches for reassurance before the battle against Malcolm and the English forces are conjured by the witches. For example, the crowned child represents Malcolm, the son of Duncan who defeated Macbeth in order to become king. These images foretell the future, which the witches had explained to Macbeth, but the witches disguised the truth in order to give Macbeth a false sense of security. In a way this could invoke feelings of sympathy for Macbeth as the witches are clearly manipulating him and taking advantage of his desperate state of mind. Also he and his wife seem to be constantly tortured by various images/hallucinations.
The supernatural occurrences in Macbeth are effective, especially in Elizabethan times when belief in the supernatural was more widespread than today. The supernatural appeals to the audience’s curiosity of the mysterious and thus strengthens their interest. Using supernatural beings creates a dramatic air in this, Shakespeare’s final tragedy. The supernatural may have far more control than thought originally and this taps into an underlying fear within the audience; for instance it scared King James I to write Demonologie which further-spread witch-hunting. I believe Shakespeare’s ambition was to scare people into thinking more morally about their actions and to stop people striving for power when they already have all they need.
