Jacobeans were very superstitous. Many years after the play ‘Macbeth’ was peformed it was believed that if you said the name Macbeth it brought bad luck. Macbeth was called ‘a play fit for a king.’
The play itself starts with the witches scene.They are discussing when to meet Macbeth.“When shall we three meet again?/ In thunder lightning, or in rain?” This oppening line makes you want to read on. This tells us that the supernatural are important in the play as they are at the beginning of the play. The play Macbeth in the 17th century was like a horror movie of our time. The supernatural, such as witches, was very frightening for the Jacobeans. The witches were especialy the most frightening of all of the supernatural happenings of the play. They speak in rhyming couplets and whenever they are around bad weather occurs. They speak in oxymorons such as, “ fair is foul and foul is fair,”this quote does not make any sense as fair and foul are complete opposites to each other, yet the witches can seem to put them together into one sentence to make sense. Another quote from the book which the witches say which is an oxymorone is , “when the hurly-burly’s done, when the battle’s lost,and won.” This doesn’t make sense as a battle can only either be lost, or won , not both. Unless you are talking about both sides. The witches discuss this whilst deciding where to meet Macbeth after the fighting is over at the beginning of the play. The witches also speak in riddle , they tend to not tell the truth but mislead you, like the oxymorons do. As an example they misleading, they mislead Macbeth into killing for him to be able to become the Thane of Glamis, the Thane of Cawdor and the king. The first witch says,“All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis.”
The witches say,“ All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, all hail to Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter.” When the witches say this Macbeth is unaware of the misfortunes which are about to take place and he believes in the witches.
As the witches cannot kill humans they harm them instead, “a sailors wife had chestnuts in her lap and munch’d, and munch’d, ‘Give me.’ Quoth I. ‘Aroint thee, witch’, the rump-fed cries.” The sailors wife would not give the witch her chestnuts. In return ads the witch could not kill, she decided to harm the sailors wife husband who was at sea , “I’th’shipman’s card. I’ll drain him dry as hay:sleep shall neither night nor day hang upon his penthouse lid;he shall live a man forbid.” The witch starts to curse the sailor, she brings upon storms to the sea so that he will not sleep neither day or night therfore he will become ill. “Weary senights nine times nine,shall he dwindle, peak, and pine. Though his bark cannot be lost,yet shall be tempest-toss’d.” The witch is going to mess with his minde. They use bad weather and storms, which affected the ship at sea. This could have prooved that the witches were present because usually when they are making a spell bad weather occurs.
Lady Macbeth’s first encounter of the witches is when she reads Macbeths letter, “ they have more in them than mortal knowledge.” Lady Macbeth knew that he was speaking about the witches. The information Macbeth had given Lady macbeth in this letter had made Lady Macbeth seriously think, she wanted to become queen, and in order to do this she believed that Macbeth and herself had to kill the king Duncan.
“Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,” in order for lady macbeth to be evil and strong enough she feels as if she needs to take way everything that makes herself a woman. “No compunctious visitings of nature.” Release any natural feelings of conscience. Lady macbeth doesn’t want to feel guilty after killing Duncan. “Come to my woman’s breasts and take my milk for gall.” Replace my breasts milk with bile (a bitter fluid secreted in the liver). Lady Macbeth in only after a short while of hearing about the witches, turned evil its asif the witches have cursed her.
After killing king Duncan lady macbeths ‘health’ gets worse. She begins waking up at night dreaming of king duncans death. “ I have seen her rise from her bed, throw her night-gown upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon’t, read it, return to bed, yet all this while in a most fast asleep.” The doctor witnessing this beleives that he can’t do anything to help lady macbeth , “ this disease is beyond my pratice.” The doctor starts realising that lady macbeth has killed duncan and this is the effect .
Lady Macbeth ends up killing herself because she feels so guilty for what she has done.
Macbeth was the most affected by the witches. His first meeting with the witches was after a fight. They told him that he was going to eventuallly become king. Mcabeth liked what the witches were predicting, evn though he was frightened of them. The witches liked picking on Macbeth as they were picking on something that he truly believed in. “This supernatural soliciting cannot be ill, cannot be good,”Macbeth doesn’t know whether believeing the witches is a good idea or even if what they are predicting is true or not.
Lady Macbeth then pursuades Macbeth that killing Duncan would be good and that it will make Macbeth king sooner. Macbeths thoughts about killing Duncan, “my thought, whose murder yet is fantastical, shakes so my single state or man that function.” This means that its only a fantasy and it shakes him even thinking about killing somone especially the king. After the murdur of king Duncan macbeth walks out with the bloody dagger. Lady Macbeth immediatly takes the bloddy dagger from him and washes away the evidence.
Macbeth starts having hallucinations, “is this a dagger i see before me, the handle before my hand?” Macbeth sees the dagger that he killed Duncan with. This is when Macbeth starts going mad.
