How Does Shakespeare Present The Supernatural In Macbeth

How does Shakespeare represent the supernatural in Macbeth?

In Macbeth the supernatural are a key feature of the play, in this essay I will explore the ways in which the supernatural are represented by Shakespeare. The presence of the supernatural from the outset of Macbeth, the witches talk about Macbeth before even Macbeth has made his first appearance on stage. This already gives the supernatural a presence in the play and seems as if the supernatural will play a significant role in Macbeth’s life.

While some supernatural presences are questionable to the audience such as the ghost of Banquo and the hallucinations of Lady Macbeth during her demise, the witch’s appearance has an objective existence as they are seen not only by Macbeth but

They greet Macbeth as ‘Thane of Glamis, Thane Cawdor and the king’ and then shortly following, ‘hail’ Macbeth. The prophecy of Banquo is the strangest as they anticipate his greatness, happiness and being ‘father of kings’. Both of Macbeth and Banquo are affected by the prophecy of the witches while Macbeth is greedy and taken over with excitement instructing the witches to ‘tell him more’, Banquo remains calm and weary of the ‘weird sisters’. The witches here reveal the true nature of man but also their ways of acting upon prophecy. Like Macbeth he is tempted but he is weary and almost takes the prophecy as a joke. Macbeth’s first words are, “so fair and foul a day I have not seen...’ and the first words of the witches “Fair is foul and foul is fair” to the witch’s good is bad and evil is good which means evil will be good in Macbeth’s eyes. It seems as if the witches are real beings. If they had been a hallucination of Macbeth, they would have been visible only to him but are also seen by Banquo. The supernatural could be a projection of the character’s thoughts, feelings and try to bring out their true personalities, such as when the witches appeal to the greedy side of

The use of the ghost could symbolise that any shred of humanity left in Macbeth died along with Banquo. Banquo is tempted like Macbeth, but he does not give way to his temptation. Like Macbeth, he is ambitious, but he does not act to realize his ambition. Macbeth gets rid of Banquo because he has heard the prophecy of the witches and that ‘Banquo’s sons will be kings’ unlike Macbeth, Banquo has a legacy (his sons and Fleance), whereas Macbeth has a ‘fruitless crown’ and ‘a baron sceptre in his gripe’. The use of the withes amplifies the fears that Macbeth has and that he doesn’t have an an heir to succeed the Macbeth family. The lengths Macbeth will go to, to eliminate any threat to his crown is extremely dangerous. The witches have predicted that Banquo’s sons would be the future kings of Scotland, thus, Macbeth tries to secure his position by murdering both Banquo and his sons. The use of the supernatural and the ghost of Banquo is not of temptation but the guilt that Macbeth is feeling. No one else can see Banquo but that he is a hallucination and projects the fear Macbeth is feeling and that the blood on his hands will haunt him like a ghost. Other Hallucinations such as the dagger and the blood on Lady Macbeth’s hands project certain feelings they feel at that point in the play. The dagger could fit in with the common phrase, ‘I would kill for…’ and the brutal, savage and greedy nature of Macbeth and how