How does superstition affect Shakespeare's writing? Macbeth hears his prophecy from three witches which starts his mental illness, Lady Macbeth also pressures him to kill the king. After Macbeth kills the king, things start to get out of hand; Macbeth gets over ambitious and wants to kill more people, whatever it takes. Shakespeare shows how believing in superstitions can lead to bad things happening when Macbeth trusts in prophecies and it causes his downfall. One example of Shakespeare's use of superstition in Macbeth is the witches prophecy that Macbeth will become the king of scotland. When Macbeth first hears this prophecy, he is skeptical of the witches power, but as the play proceeds, he becomes obsessed with fulfilling the prophecy. This obsession leads to his downfall. Another example is the use of the owl as a symbol of death . In Act II, scene2, Lady Macbeth says, “ It was the owl that shriek’d, the fatal bellman, Which gives the stern’st goodnight. He is about it: The doors are open; and the surfeited grooms Do not mock their charge with snores: I have drugged their possets, That death and nature do contend about them, Whether they live or die.” Here the owl's cry is seen as a portent of death, and Lady …show more content…
The witches’ prophecy that Macbeth will become king is a prime example of this. When Macbeth first hears the prophecy, he becomes increasingly obsessed with fulfilling the prophecy, even to the point of murder. This obsession ultimately leads to his downfall. The use of superstition in macbeth also serves to create an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty. The owl’s cry, for example, is used to heighten the tension of the scene in which Lady Macbeth is plotting Duncan’s murder. By using superstition in this way, Shakspeare is able to tap into the audience's primal fears and create a sense of foreboding that permeates the entire