SUPERNATURALISM IN MACBETH

A shakespearean tragedy as a rule a has a special tone or atmosphere of its own. The effect of this
atmosphere is marked with unsual strength in Macbeth. With so general a belief existing all round him,
it is not surprising that Shakespeare , whether he himself believed in witches and ghosts or not , should
have introduced them into this play, specially doing so added an element of mystery and a deeper
ethical or moral significance to the drama . In no other play, has this supernatural element played a
more important part than in Macbeth. Here it not only consists witches and ghost but we have also , as a
part of supernatural machinery, the air-drawn dagger and the unnatural events that followed the
murder of Duncan
The desolate heaths , the lonely castles , the eerie setting every detail of the play is steeped in the
peculiar genius of Celtic Scotland. Professor Dowden comments : it is the tragedy of the twilight and
setting-in of thick darkness upon a human soul. Darkness we may even say blackness, broods over the
tragedy . The lines good things of day begin to droop and drowse,
whiles nights black agents to their preys do rouse
contain the very key idea of the drama .
In the whole drama the sun seems to shine only twice: first, in the beautiful but ironical passage where
Duncan sees the swallows fleeting round the castle of death; and afterwards, when at the close the
avenging army gathers to rid the earth of its shame.
Every device of Shakespeare has been designed to accentnate the over-weening influence of the arms in
world. So long as Macbeth is striving to bring about the fullfilment of the prophecy ; he is a bungler; at
every turn the unseen agencies brings fortune to his aid. Supernaturalism in Macbeth is not an
irrelevent thing introduced by the dramatist for the purpose of satisfying the whim of the king or the
prejudice of his audience. The weird sisters who foretell the ultimate attainment of the crown by
Macbeth, stand for this supernatural agency.
The results produced by the introduction of the supernatural in Macbeth may be characterised under
three heads :
1. In the first place, it affects the plot.
2. Secondly , it gives a peculiar interest to the character.
3. Lastly, it creates a peculiar atmosphere which enhances the horror of the tragedy.
The witches are a part of the mechanism of the plot because they influence the action of Macbeth to a
great extent. Whenever Shakespeare introduces the supernatural, he does so with a purpose. These
mysterious beings represent the unseen powers of evil that lie in wait for human frailty and urge on
mankind to sin and guilt. They are not simply the embodiment of inward temptation but real living
forces, working for evil. They are seats of moral desease, so to speak in the air which act on minds
morally enfeebled, but pass harmlessly by those which are morally sound. Thus Macbeth is tempted
while Banquo escapes injection.

Again, the supernatural in Macbeth gives a peculiar interset to Macbeths character. The air-drawn
dagger and Banquos ghost are subjective manifestations the products of Macbeths heat-oppressed
brain as he himself shrewdly suspects. In the first case his mind has been brooding upon murder and he
presently sees the instrument he was going to use in the air . In the Banquet scene the ghost of Banquo
comes to remind him that there is a Nemesis which follows crime, and this Nemesis is rapidly
approaching .
Lastly, the supernatural element invests the whole tragedy with mystery and diffuses an atmosphere of
awe. The play opens with the movement of mysterious spritual powers and as the action unfolds itself,
the spell enfolds us and our minds are subdued to a sense of the withchess aweful power. as the guilty
pair prepare for their sin , the hall is hit by lightning and re-echoes with thunder and then we hear with
them the owl shriek and the cricket cry.
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