In act three scene 4 Banquo’s ghost starts haunting Macbeth in the middle of a banquet after Macbeth has just recently ordered for the murder of Banquo and his son Fleance. “Avaunt, and quit my sight, let the earth hide thee.” Macbeth has seen the ghost of Banquo and cannot believe his eyes, he believes that it is a figment of his imagination as Banquo is dead “Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood Is cold”. Macbeth is trying to convince himself that it is not the ghost of Banquo but his imagination and is trying to back up is views by running over in his mind that Banquo is actually dead. The involvement of the supernatural in this scene is quite clear, as Macbeth is the only one that sees the ghost, which shows it is on his conscience and the witches have forced him to do something against his will. This means that the witches have manipulated Macbeth and are forcing him, against his will, to perform acts of murder and deceit to get Macbeth to where the witches have foreseen him.
The affect that the supernatural has on Lady Macbeth is clear to see as in act 1 scene 5 she has opened Macbeth’s letter and the words that Macbeth tells her have a great affect on her. “Come thick night, and pall thee in the dunnest smoke of Hell”. These words of Lady Macbeth show her great desire to perform acts of evil and to promote her and Macbeth to power she will do anything as she believes that the predictions of the witches will come true as so far they have been correct. She uses the imagery of night and darkness to portray evil as the night is seen to be mysterious and a time of unrest for Elizabethans as they fear the unknown. “Nor Heaven peep through the blanket of the dark”. The witches have been clever in using Lady Macbeth to get to Macbeth as her will is much stronger and she is far more easily manipulated. Eventually the one that pushes Macbeth to perform the malicious acts turns out to be Lady Macbeth and the witches have been very devious in their choice.
From studying Shakespeare’s use of language to portray evil it is clear that he has focused on the typical dark, stormy night with references to hell to get his message of the supernatural across to the audience. “In thunder, lightning or in rain”, “come thick night” and “the dunnest smoke of hell”. All of these expressions create the feeling of dark and evil in your mind, including the thought of witches which is exactly what Macbeth wanted for the Elizabethan audiences as it scared them and made them ponder over the facts of evil portrayed in his plays linked to real life.
In Macbeth the Weird Sisters are part of Shakespeare’s supernatural theme, they act like witches and make prophecies to Macbeth, which turn out to cause him to be murderous. In act 1, scene 3 Macbeth meets with the witches after a battle, they tell him 3 prophecies, “All hail Macbeth, hail to thee Thane of Glamis”. This is already true and Macbeth thinks nothing of this. “All hail to thee Thane of Cawdor”. This is also true although Macbeth is unaware at this point. “All hail Macbeth that shalt be King hereafter”. This makes Macbeth wonder of the truth of the prophecies and does not instantly think them to be lying. In the same meeting the witches also predict that Banquo’s son will eventually be king which Banquo immediately dismisses.
When Macbeth reveals the prophecies to his wife Lady Macbeth this immediately brings out her evil side and she decides that they will have to murder the king and Banquo which Macbeth is unsure about doing. Lady Macbeth is very manipulative towards Macbeth and eventually forces him to carry out the murders, By questioning Macbeth she makes him want his dignity and uses reverse psychology to persuade him, “Hath it slept since?” “Wherein you dressed yourself?” “And live a coward in thine own esteem”. Here she is calling Macbeth a coward which is something he greatly dislikes and his finally pushes him over the edge.
The Weird Sisters represent evil as they are seen as 3 old women who can see the future, they have black cats and make references to flying, which are all common signs of the supernatural. These signs would have particularly scared an Elizabethan audience as witchcraft was thought to be very evil and many accused witches were murdered on the thought that they were supernatural and were harming people and causing bad things to happen.
The appearances of the witches is significant in the play as they appear in the start, after Macbeth’s battle and after Lady Macbeth has proposed the killing of the King and Banquo. These are significant as they try and back up the evil of Lady Macbeth and check that their evil is being passed down to Macbeth. Their use of rhyming also adds to their witch like behaviour and makes them mysterious “To trade, and traffic with Macbeth, in riddles and affairs of death”. Here they are telling Hecat, another witch, how they have manipulated Macbeth and that their evil doings are being carried out.
The supernatural plays a key role in the shaping of events in the play as it brings out the evil of Lady Macbeth and using the powers of persuasion forces Macbeth to go against his will to commit murder. It is also far more interesting to have the involvement of witches in a play as it adds in an air of mystery and tenseness to the audience as it is something that scares them and Makes them remember the play well. Shakespeare has been very clever in his use of the witches as they appear at the right times and check that their evil is being carried out. This almost gives the impression that they are watching the story unfold and know everything about everyone involved and what they have done, or will be required to do again adding to the mysteries of the play.