Macbeth Themes: The Supernatural
The Supernatural – At a Glance
Central Conflict: The intrusion of dark, metaphysical forces into the mortal world, blurring the line between reality and the mind.
The Core Question: Are the supernatural elements real demonic forces, or are they psychological manifestations of Macbeth's own guilt and ambition?
Impact on Characters: The supernatural acts as a catalyst, exploiting Macbeth's hidden desires and leading him down a path of paranoia and destruction.
Key Dynamic: The Ambiguity of Visions. While the Witches are seen by both Macbeth and Banquo (proving they are "real" within the play's world), the floating dagger and Banquo's ghost are seen only by Macbeth, suggesting a fractured psyche.
The Outcome: The supernatural forces deceive Macbeth through equivocation, leading him to a false sense of security and his ultimate demise.
The Evolution of the Supernatural
In Macbeth, the supernatural is not merely a backdrop; it is an active, corrupting force that evolves from external temptation to internal psychological torment.
1. The Agents of Chaos (The Witches)
The play opens with the Witches, establishing immediately that the natural order has been suspended. They are the earthly representatives of chaos, existing on the fringes of society (the heath) and speaking in paradoxes. When they meet Macbeth, they do not cast a spell on him; they simply plant a seed of ambition:
Original:
What are these
So wither'd and so wild in their attire,
That look not like the inhabitants o' the earth,
And yet are on't? (Banquo – Act 1, Scene 3)
Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse):
What are these
So haggard, dressed in scruffy, mangy clothes,
That do not look like they live here on earth,
But yet they’re here?
Banquo's reaction is crucial because it confirms the Witches are physically present, not just a figment of Macbeth's imagination. They represent an external supernatural force that seeks to actively dismantle the moral and political stability of Scotland.
2. The Mind Infected (Visions and Phantoms)
As Macbeth commits to the murder, the nature of the supernatural shifts from the external world to his internal psychology. On the way to kill Duncan, his corrupted mind conjures a vision:
Original:
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? (Macbeth – Act 2, Scene 1)
Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse):
And is this fateful sight perceivable
By touch as well as sight? Or is it merely
A dagger in my mind, that I've imagined,
A vision from my overactive brain?
The "dagger of the mind" is the first blurring of the supernatural and the psychological. Later, the appearance of Banquo's ghost follows this same pattern. Because the ghost is invisible to the rest of the banquet guests, Shakespeare strongly implies that this "supernatural" event is actually the manifestation of Macbeth’s overwhelming guilt.
“The words of the Witches are fatal to the hero only because there is in him something which leaps into light at the sound of them.”
3. The Masters of Illusion (The Apparitions)
In Act 4, a desperate Macbeth actively seeks out the Witches. He is no longer passively receiving prophecies; he is demanding them. The Witches conjure three apparitions (an armed head, a bloody child, and a crowned child with a tree).
Original:
Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until
Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill
Shall come against him. (Third Apparition – Act 4, Scene 1)
Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse):
Macbeth will not be trounced and overthrown till
Great Birnam wood has come to Dunsinane hill
To fight against him.
Here, the supernatural becomes a tool of ultimate deception. The apparitions deal in equivocation—half-truths designed to give Macbeth a false sense of invincibility. The supernatural forces do not kill Macbeth directly; they manipulate him into destroying himself.
Key Quotes on the Supernatural
Quote 1: The Reversal of Order
Original:
Fair is foul, and foul is fair:
Hover through the fog and filthy air. (The Witches – Act 1, Scene 1)Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse):
What’s fair is foul; what’s foul is fair;
Let’s fly through foggy, filthy air.Analysis: This paradoxical chant establishes the thematic atmosphere for the entire play. The supernatural forces aim to invert morality, making good seem bad and bad seem good. The "fog and filthy air" represents the moral blindness they cast over Scotland.
Quote 2: Nature in Revolt
Original:
'Tis unnatural,
Even like the deed that's done. On Tuesday last,
A falcon, towering in her pride of place,
Was by a mousing owl hawked at and killed. (Old Man – Act 2, Scene 4)Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse):
It is unnatural,
Like what has happened here. On Tuesday last,
A falcon, soaring high above the earth,
Was savaged by an owl that feeds on mice.Analysis: In Shakespeare’s time, the "Great Chain of Being" dictated that a disruption in the human hierarchy (killing a King) would cause supernatural chaos in nature. The unnatural behaviour of the animals mirrors Macbeth’s unnatural usurpation of the throne.
Quote 3: The Monster Recognised
Original:
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes. (Second Witch – Act 4, Scene 1)Shakespeare Retold (Modern Verse):
By the pain within my thumbs
I sense that something wicked comes.Analysis: This is a terrifying milestone in Macbeth's character arc. The Witches—creatures of pure, supernatural evil—now sense Macbeth approaching and categorise him as "something wicked." He has become a monster that even the forces of darkness recognise as one of their own.
Key Takeaways – The Supernatural
Ambiguity: Shakespeare deliberately leaves it unclear whether the dagger and the ghost are demonic illusions or the byproducts of a diseased mind.
The Environment: The supernatural infects the very landscape of the play, bringing darkness, storms, earthquakes, and unnatural animal behaviour (pathetic fallacy).
Catalyst vs. Cause: The supernatural entities in the play tempt, prod, and deceive, but they never force. The tragedy is driven by human choices responding to dark suggestions.
Study Questions and Analysis
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Within the world of the play, the Witches are real. This is proven in Act 1, Scene 3, when Banquo sees and interacts with them alongside Macbeth. However, while the Witches themselves are external entities, they act as a mirror to Macbeth's internal, repressed desires.
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The floating dagger in Act 2 is the first major psychological manifestation of the supernatural. It represents the fatal choice Macbeth is about to make. Because only Macbeth sees it, it serves as a visual metaphor for his "heat-oppressed brain" and the magnetic pull of his ambition overriding his conscience.
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Elizabethans believed in a divinely ordered universe (The Great Chain of Being). The King was God's deputy on earth. When Macbeth murders Duncan, it is a crime against God, which fractures the natural world. This is why the murder is accompanied by supernatural events: unnatural storms, an eclipse, and horses turning wild and eating each other.
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Hecate is the Greco-Roman goddess of witchcraft. She appears in Act 3 to reprimand the Weird Sisters for dealing with Macbeth without her permission. She orchestrates his final downfall by planning to draw him on with "artificial sprites" that will produce a false sense of security, stating that "security is mortals' chiefest enemy." (Note: Many scholars believe the Hecate scenes were added later by playwright Thomas Middleton).
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Equivocation—the use of ambiguous language to conceal the truth—is the primary weapon of the supernatural in Macbeth. The Apparitions tell Macbeth he cannot be harmed by man "of woman born" and will not be defeated until "Birnam Wood" moves. These are literal truths but practical lies, demonstrating that trusting in dark forces leads to ruin.
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Banquo's ghost is the climax of Macbeth's psychological unravelling. Unlike the Witches, the ghost is entirely a product of Macbeth's guilt, invisible to Lady Macbeth and the lords. It shows that the most terrifying supernatural forces in the play are not demons on a heath, but the tortures of a guilty human conscience.