Is It Possible To Read Macbeth As Having Genuine Supernatural Elements?

Is it possible to read Macbeth as having genuine supernatural elements? The supernatural elements in Macbeth include fate, witches, mythological beings, ghosts and apparitions. Macbeth is by far the most supernaturally charged. In the play, Macbeth is given three prophecies by three witches. These prophecies state that Macbeth will be the Thane of Glamis and the Thane of Cawdor. Hearing this Macbeth is confused because he is already the Thane of Cawdor and there is already a Thane of Glamis, King Duncan. These prophecies appeal to Macbeth, and influence his actions and overall change his character as the play progresses. The witches are important figures in the play. As their function is both to predict Macbeth's fate and to signal what is to come. The three witches represent evil,

They may also be compared to the Fates - three women in Greek mythology who created and foretold the Fates of men. In the same way, these witches present Macbeth with his fate. The witches look like women, yet they have beards, preventing Banquo from saying that they are female. This shows the strangeness of the witches - their outer ugliness is reflected in their inner ugliness. women acting like men not only breaks the natural order of the world, but also creates cruel and unnatural abominations, gender roles in the play often pose a threat, masculine women being the most obvious, yet Macbeth is also threatened by the idea of not being a proper man, leading him to commit terrible crimes in order to prove his masculinity. Shakespeare uses the Witches, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth to expose the problems of a violent and cruel idea of what it is to be 'masculine'. Masculinity is a problematic idea overthrown by Macduff and Malcolm. The witches are often associated with a turn in the weather which becomes stormy, they are directly linked with disturbances in the natural world. This reflects the witches as