Macbeth Essay Essay

Shakespeare uses ghosts and witches into many of his plays and work. But in no other play did he make them so horrible and demon like as he did the witches in Macbeth. The way in which they were described, made Macbeth a popular play. Superstition is a very shrewd belief in the supernatural. Supernatural is an attribute to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature. When it is referred to as â€Å"the supernatural†, then it means supernatural appearances or events. Both of the two terms that I have just explained, superstition and supernatural, are present a lot of the time during the play Macbeth, and many of the supernatural events which occur during the play tend to lead into other happenings. The witches are actually an important part of the play and the supernatural, because they start the play along with the supernatural. At the beginning of the play, Shakespeare sets the scene for the witches by using thunder and lightening and naming location of the scene â€Å"A Desolate Place†. â€Å"Upon the heath† and â€Å"there to meet Macbeth† The witches announce that they will meet with Macbeth upon a heath. They then disappear into â€Å"filthy air† as mysteriously as they arrived. Later in the play, Banquo refers to the witches exit as â€Å"the earth hath bubbles, as the water has, and these are of them† what he means by this is that the witches can disappear in the same way as bubbles do. In the first scene the supernatural theme is present due to the witches being there. They speak of Macbeth and involve him in supernatural matters, and we can tell that they influence him, and this also blooms as the play develops. The words that the witches use are also of a supernatural nature. Some link together sometimes in a chant like way, such as ‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair’, and this sounds rather unpleasant and evil. We can also blame them for some of the things that happen later on in the play which are involved in the downfall of Macbeth. Later in the play Macbeth is found echoing some of the phrases that the witches have used. This occurs just before the witches give their predictions to Macbeth and Banquo. This could be coincidence, but could also be because they have influenced him. Therefore, they could have influenced him in what to do, and what he does is evil. This is a good example of how the supernatural leads to his downfall. The main turning point in the play is when Macbeth meets with the witches when he is with Banquo and when the predictions are made. Macbeth is told that he shall be the thane of Glamis, then the than of Cawdor and shall then go on to be King. We can tell that he is interested as the first thing that he says after these predictions have been made is ‘Stay, you imperfect speakers. Tell me more’, which is meant to make Banquo and the audience to think that he does not believe them, but tells the witches to carry on as he is curious as to what they have to say, but they vanish and we know that he has taken them seriously as he desperate for them to come back. Banquo has a different view and says ‘The instruments tell us truths; win us with honest trifles, to betray in deepest consequence’. What Banquo means by this is that the witches may have only told them their possible future so that they act on what they have been told. By saying this, Banquo is implying that the witches have evil intentions. Banquo advises Macbeth to steer clear o the witches and what they have said, but he ignores him as he is greedy and over ambitious. This is where we know that the supernatural has influenced Macbeth and has begun to change him. At the time of the predictions Macbeth was already Thane of Glamis, and was shortly made the Thane of cawdor. This made him believe that the predictions were true. Macbeth believed that if the first two predictions were correct, the third prediction would also be correct. Lady Macbeth also helped Macbeth become a victim of his own destiny. She was behind him during the murder of King Duncan and was the reason for Macbeth doing it because she continued to assure that all would turn out in their favour. She also made him feel guilty and like a wimp by saying ‘Art thou afeard’ and ‘live a coward in thane own esteem’. This is quite an important thing as she is questioning his masculinity. Macbeth is at this time known as a warrior, and when he is faced with this comment he is going to try and prove it wrong. She can also be found using witchcraft when she asks the spirits to change her into a fearless, ruthless human being making her able to help Macbeth in killing Duncan. She says ‘Unsex me here’ and ‘Come you spirits’ which shows that she would be able to influence what Macbeth does, like the witches can. As the play continues we can see that they grow apart and Macbeth decides to make more important decisions on his own and does not include her. As I have already said, the witches build up a large part of the supernatural in the play, but other elements add to this, so we can not put it all down to the witches. Although they were responsible for directing Macbeth in the killing, and the hallucinations may have encouraged him, a character who was close to him was also involved, Lady Macbeth. However, when Macbeth murdered Banquo, and Macduff’s family, they were his own decisions. I think that he went solo because all of the predictions had been achieved, and now the supernatural has abandoned him. Before he could have blamed it on the supernatural but when he took matters into his own hands he was to blame. Macbeth starts to arouse suspicion as soon as he starts making decisions for himself and so, this is why he ends up dead because Banquo suspects him. You could say that all of the deaths in Macbeth were caused by the supernatural, because the witches had quite a lot to do with Macbeth, and the Murder of Duncan was directed by witchcraft. Macbeth was provoked by the witches and pressurised by his wife, who we know used witchcraft at some time during the play, and did carry out the actions herself, but we could say that it is not his fault. However, the witches may have just been making suggestions and so; Macbeth never had to follow them. After this of course, the murders are down to one man, Macbeth. I think that the supernatural does indeed lead to Macbeth’s downfall, but really, he is to blame, and becomes a monster. I think that the main reason is his own ambition.