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The Supernatural In Shakespeare's King Lear And Macbeth

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England in Shakespeare’s time was established on the basis of divine order, which stated that the monarch was placed by God to preside over the commoners and animals. Shakespeare, in King Lear and Macbeth, explores the idea of an unnatural society, one that has been destabilized through the malevolent agents of the supernatural. Shakespeare conveys the supernatural in Macbeth through recognizable characters, such as the weird sisters, but utilizes only imagery and action to mention the supernatural in King Lear. However, in both of these tragedies, the supernatural is utilized to highlight the divine order of their world and also serve as a stimulant for each character’s actions, which further provides insight into the moral ambiguity of prominent characters. Throughout King Lear, characters refer to the gods in their speech. The corrupt characters refer to them sparingly and crudely, …show more content…

The witches’ conversation before their encounter with Macbeth clearly expresses their wickedness, as the first witch threats a sailor’s wife of a storm when she refused to give her chestnuts. This directly contrasts the supernatural realm of King Lear, which does not influence the character’s behavior for their own amusement. In the same scene with the witches, however, Shakespeare hints of a limit to the supernatural’s powers. The first witch state that, “Though his bark cannot be lost / Yet it shall be tempest-tossed.” (CITE) This implies that the weird sisters’ powers are limited to that of changing some natural elements, but they cannot simply alter the future or aspects of some events. Contrasting King Lear, the supernatural in Macbeth, exists only to challenge the characters’, though mainly Macbeth’s, moral impositions, which is further evident due to the scenes involving Banquo’s ghost and the

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Who’s to Blame Essay Who’s to blame for Macbeth’s decision to kill King Duncan. In Act one of Shakespeare’s exciting drama Macbeth, Macbeth, the Thane of Cawdor is convinced by different characters in the book to choose to kill King Duncan. By doing this, this will make Macbeth become the king which would give a tremendous amount of power in Scotland. Initially, Macbeth did not want to kill Duncan, however different characters convince him to do so. It is right to say that Lady Macbeth and the Three Witches are ones to blame for Macbeth’s decision to kill King Duncan.

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Which causes their downfall, due to their desire for power which influenced them to make sinister decisions. Essentially, the witches have influenced Macbeth and Lady Macbeth negatively which have caused their characterization to adapt differently from Act 1. If power was offered to humans, do you think they would make sinister

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As Macbeth asked for more information from the witches, in their second encounter, he is flustered with riddled sentences that comfort him and give him a false sense of security. The apparitions that the witches summon each give Macbeth a piece of information that changes the way he thinks about his throne. One of the apparitions tells Macbeth that “none of woman born shall harm [him]” (4.1.102). The other apparition tells him that “[He] shall never be vanquished until Great Birnam Wood to Dunsinane Hill shall come against him” (4.1.115). With these prophecies Macbeth begins to think that none will be able to harm him and that he is for the most part invincible.

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The witches impacted Macbeth the most in spite of the fact that it was by all accounts to a greater degree of miscommunication. He accepted that getting to be above all else he expected to do his obligation and execute Duncan so he could have his spot. Different things, for example, Banquo's apparition and the nonexistent knife affected the decision of whether Macbeth should to execute the lord or not, but rather despite everything they acted as an

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For centuries , witches have been stoned to death and burned alive simply for being able to create magic . The notion of witches have been a taboo subject that most people would try to avoid but William Shakespeare did not make their reputation any better by depicting them as malicious and demonic in his famous play ‘ Macbeth’ which a lot of people tried making movies of . Despite bearing some similarities between the three videos in which the witches were in , the differences are profound . To start with , there are quite some similarities between the witches in the three movies . In George Wright’s , Rupert Goold’s , and Kurzel’s movies , all of the witches seemed to say the same lines , despite them being from different timelines .

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This suggests that the Witches are heavily influencing Macbeth. However, it is the predictions they make that show the influence they

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Supernatural elements can be seen in Macbeth through the witches and their unusual powers. The witches appear to be helpful in giving Macbeth his prophecy, but in reality want only to stir up trouble and cause strife throughout the kingdom. Although Macbeth wants the witches to tell him his prophecy, he is also afraid to act on these newly found predictions for fear of the inevitable guilt he will then have to face. Macbeth states that the witches as "Instruments of darkness" in order to explain to readers that even though the witches appear to be helping Macbeth, in reality they are causing more harm than good and creating evil thoughts within the characters minds. Macbeth’s prophecy began his desire for power, which led to his struggle with guilt.

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Throughout the play, the witches have a strong influence on many characters. MacBeth listens to their prophecies and tries to pursue ultimate power because of them. The witches are an example of supernatural beings and change in natural order of events. The witches prophecies were seen as concrete and not able to be altered, so by MacBeth trying to usurp and affect his future, he reaps the poor consequences of his actions. The witches are stronger and more powerful than MacBeth because they have all-power and the ability to forever alter the course of someone’s life.

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Influence of Witchcraft In Shakespeare’s day witches were not merely a novelty character brought out as a joke around Halloween. It was widely believed that witches were real and that they possessed powers that were considered to be of the devil. This belief in witchcraft eventually led to a widespread panic that was followed by the persecution of witches. Due to this belief in witchcraft at the time Macbeth was written and performed; the tone was already set. Shakespeare used this fear to create suspense within the play and it led to the involvement of the weird sisters and the crazed actions committed by Macbeth and his wife.

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William Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, takes place in 11th century Scotland, and has its own portrayal of society. Although it may not be entirely accurate, the society that Shakespeare develops has distinctive roles and societal expectations for each gender. In this society lives Macbeth, a military nobleman trusted by the king who eventually becomes king himself, but through a murder encouraged by his wife, Lady Macbeth. His reign is tainted with inhumane acts such as hiring assassins to kill one of his friends, and ordering the massacre of another friend’s family. At the conclusion of the play, Lady Macbeth dies from unknown causes, Macbeth is murdered by Macduff, another nobleman, and Scotland rejoices because Macbeth’s reign of terror has come to an end.

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The presence of the witches is the first supernatural element that Macbeth meets. One would assume that the witches could be blamed for influencing Macbeth with their prophecies. The witches are able to make Macbeth acknowledge his own dark desires. In Act I, Scene III, the three witches call out one after the other claiming “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to you, Thane of Glamis! /

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The supernatural motivates Macbeth comprehensively, to the extent that he murders King Duncan, Banquo and Macduff 's family. It galvanises him to do things that otherwise he would have thought were ludicrous. Firstly, the witches prophecies stimulated Macbeth to kill the ones he loves, as a consequence losing friends that were loyal to him. Additionally, Banquo 's ghost caused Macbeth to feel guilt and fear, causing him to rely on the witches’ predictions and having a false feeling of security. Finally, the vision of a bloody dagger that appeared right before the murder encouraged Macbeth to kill King Duncan.

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The women in Macbeth are presented by Shakespeare to be powerful and ambitious which was unlike the typical views during Jacobean times. The playwright portrays Lady Macbeth and the witches to be highly influential to male characters in the play, which again contrasts the contemporary views to that time. Their ambition and power are demonstrated through the perversion of nature. This highlights the evil and immoral side, they possess. Shakespeare, however, presented Lady Macbeth and the witches to be manipulative and cunning, rather than violent like Macbeth was during the play.

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During the Renaissance, witchcraft was highly praised and believed in by many. The Renaissance, “like many European cultures of the period, medieval Scotland maintained a belief in witches, including their ability to make prophecies and to affect the outcome of certain events” (“The Historical Context of Macbeth”). Humankind during the Renaissance believed witches could control one’s outcome; therefore, the witches were able to manipulate the fates of people. Likewise, in Macbeth, Macbeth’s belief in the three witches leads to his impending death. Macbeth was told by the three witches that “the power of man; for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth” (4.1.83).

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Often, it is the responsibility of oneself to determine the outcome of your life, however there will always be influential people who either directly or indirectly affect the decisions made. Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a play believed to be written in 1605, focusing on the downwards spiral of Macbeth after he murders King Duncan in order to become King of Scotland, consequently developing feelings of guilt and paranoia. Through the establishment of atmosphere, comments on the actions of major characters, and foreshadowing events, Shakespeare develops the minor characters which include the Three Witches, Macduff, and the Murderers, to support and further prompt the development of the major characters, as well as to communicate essential moral truths and trite platitudes.

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