The Supernatural in "Macbeth"

The time that Macbeth and Banquo met the witches for the first time, in Act 1, Scene 3, Banquo described them as they were unnatural.  More evidence was given to the audience of the witched unnaturalness when the stage direction stated “witches vanish” normal people couldn’t do this, implying the witches are paranormal. Shakespeare would have displayed this by using trap door on his stage. I have seen a production where the witches used opaque piece of material and wrapped it around them, representing them disappearing. This was quite believable despite the fact it was a simple trick. Both Macbeth and Banquo weren’t sure if the meeting of the witches was real. It states “insane root” this suggests that Macbeth and Banquo clamed to have eaten something wrong causing hallucination would be the natural reaction of someone who had seen the supernatural.  Ross and Angus later reveal the second prophesy, “Call thee Thane of Cawdor”. This was the witch’s second prophecy for Macbeth, started putting his faith in what the witches have predicted for his and Banquo’s future. However, Banquo warned him that there was something evil in the prophesy, “The instrument of darkness tell us truths, / win us with honest trifles to betray’s / in deepest consequences.” This was meant that the Banquo though that the witches were servants of the devil, and telling Macbeth and Banquo the prophecies was part of a plan to lead them to an evil path.  At this stage Macbeth seemed to be satisfied with the fact that he will be king in the near future.  “If chance will have me King, why chance may crown me without my stir” but will Macbeth wait for his royal position or will the supernatural force his drive? We couldn’t wait to find out.

Macbeth took things into his own hands as he had no more patience to wait for “chance” to crown him. In Act 2, Scene 1, the supernatural, forced him to make tragic action. The supernatural setting, when dark creatures were believed to their highest power, at midnight “she goes down at twelve” fleance had to say this, to make it clear to the audience what time it was because the only lightning Shakespeare used was natural. (Shakespeare normally performed his play in the evening). Entities such as demons and devils haunted humans whilst they slept. Nightmares and dreams played an important part in this scene. Banquo had “dreamt last night of the three Weird Sisters” and asked the angels to stop his nightmares, “Merciful powers, / Restrain in me the curse thoughts that nature/ Gives way to in repose.” It was as if witched and demons were invading Banquo’s mind while he slept, and Banquo also mentioned a “diamond”, which was regarded as a charm against nightmares. In the past, nightmares were considered to be caused by demons sitting on the chests of those who were asleep.

Supernatural borders with reality when Macbeth announced his speech. Macbeth said “Is this a dagger which I see before me, / the handle toward my hand?” this was when he hallucinated. The “dagger” was not real. Even when Macbeth tried to “clutch” the dagger, we knew that he could not take it when he said “I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.” Shakespeare might have used a man in dark clothing to hold the dagger, but it would still make sense if he didn’t show the dagger at all, since it was only Macbeth who was meant to see it. The audience would believe that it was witchcraft that made Macbeth see the dagger. It was shown that Macbeth was talking directly to the dagger by personalising it by using the word “thee.”  Macbeth now had his “dagger of the mind” which was his “false creation” made by his “heat-oppressed brain” as a result of having though of murder. The false dagger was the catalyst to Macbeth drawing his own dagger, which was the exact same as the illusion. “As this which now I draw” was said by Macbeth to show us his real dagger. We were not surprised to realize that the dagger seemed to be communication to Macbeth, “Thou marshall’st me the way that I was going, / And such as instrument I was to use.” It was as if the Macbeth’s delusion was encouraging him to take his dagger and follow the supernatural dagger to Duncan’s room. In his soliloquy he referred “Hecate’s offerings” and “Taqruin’s ravishing strides”. Macbeth did not consider killing Duncan to be murder, but merely a sacrificial ritual for Hecate (goddess of witchcraft) so that with the help of witchcraft, he would become king. Also, Macbeth was comparing himself to Tarquin (son of king of Rome, who rapes his hostess at midnight) by the silent way he walked toward Duncan’s bedroom to do an evil dead, which the exact same situation as Tarquin on the night he had committed rape. It seemed as though Macbeth was placing the blame of the murder on the supernatural. I personally believe that Macbeth is innocent; the supernatural witches used him as an instrument to see his life deteriorate: this would have brought them pleasure and entertainment. The witches did not make it obvious that Macbeth had to kill King Duncan but they used a quick form of magnetism when they informed Macbeth that he was meant to be king. They successfully guided him on the path to his own destruction by putting this thought in his mind.

Supernatural powers in this play had a significant role in the plot because without it Macbeth would have never killed Duncan, and this play would have been extremely unexciting. Shakespeare presented the supernatural by using witches who could tell the future and the floating dagger. Even nowadays there are still elements of the supernatural and superstition surrounding this play as it is assumed that Shakespeare used the spells of real witches which made them angry and caused them to curse his play. There have been many accidents and deaths of actors who mention the “Macbeth.” I think the supernatural occurrences had a big part in this play. Without them the play wouldn’t be what it is because people would less believe what was happening. Shakespeare did a good job by spotting what was interesting for his audience in the Elizabethan era and they would have appreciated it because it was something that was interesting for them. I personally think that the play has the same effect on today’s audience because even today we still don’t know if supernatural exist and if it is something true… No matter if it does or not it will be a mystery for many more years. Using supernatural creatures has absolutely formed a remarkable atmosphere in Shakespeare’s final tragedy, “Macbeth”.