Supernatural Forces In Macbeth

The existence and power of supernatural forces was strongly believed in the Elizabethan age, during which an estimated nine million women were put to death for being perceived as witches. These superstitious forces are a significant part of Shakespeare’s plays, including “Macbeth” which would not have been as dramatic as it is if these forces did not exist. The witches are probably the most important out of all these paranormal forces, without which the main plot would not have come into existence. Furthermore, the appearance of the air-drawn dagger affects Macbeth, after which he starts relying more on these forces. All of these events lead to chaos in Scotland and Macbeth’s death. The supernatural forces in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” hold great

Macbeth is already having second thoughts about killing Duncan, but Lady Macbeth refuses to allow him to give up the opportunity to be king by attacking his manhood, she says: “When you durst do it, then you are a man” (1.7.49). Apart from the preternatural forces, Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth’s manliness, knowing that it is the greatest insult she can direct at him as he is a warrior above everything. She believes in the witches’ predictions as she says: “Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem to have thee crowned withal” (1.5.28-29). It is by means of attacking his manhood, something fundamental to his notion of himself as a warrior, that Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband, affecting his mental state and leading to Duncan’s murder. Macbeth is aware of his frame of mind when he sees the dagger as he says: “Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still…Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain” (2.1.33-39). The dagger is an apparition and Macbeth realizes it, as he states that he sees the dagger but is unable to grasp it, and that he may be going crazy, as evidenced by his “heat-oppressed brain” (2.1.39). The dagger foreshadows Macbeth’s mental instability as he begins to lose his mind once he decides to murder Duncan; knowing the murder to be wrong, he still moves forward with the heinous act. Furthermore, the dagger is not an act of witchcraft; instead it is a culmination of Macbeth’s imagination, his mental state, and his ambitious nature materializing before him. Lady Macbeth’s manipulation and the appearance of the dagger solidifies Macbeth’s future dark path, one filled with murder and