1.

Elements of the supernatural--that which cannot be explained by the laws of nature, as those
laws are understood at any given historical moment--are important to three of the plays we have
read this semester (Richard III, Hamlet, and Macbeth). First, explain how each of those three
plays engages with the idea of the supernatural. Your answer should consider both how the
plays' characters encounter, experience, and think about the supernatural as well as how the
plays in question urge their theatrical audiences to think about the supernatural. Then discuss
why Shakespeare may have turned so frequently to the supernatural in depicting various human
dramas. The strongest answers will go beyond noting that supernatural themes are exciting,
suspenseful, entertaining for audiences, etc. Instead, think about the psychological questions,
social dynamics, and philosophical questions about human action that the idea of the
supernatural allows a writer to explore.

In Richard III, one of the first supernatural aspects is when Clarence has a dream about

Richard killing him which foreshadows what is to come for him because later, he discovers that

he is planning on his death. “O Lord! Methought what pain it was to drown / What dreadful noise

of waters in my ears, / What sights of ugly death within mine eyes!” (1.4.21–23) but in the dream

he witnesses Richard push him into the ocean. He had to face the drowning over and over

again, but he also was sent to the underworld where he saw the ghost of people who were killed

due to the overthrowing of the monarchy. As the people Richard hired come to murder him, he is

told that he orchestrated the whole thing to have him killed. “You are deceived. Your brother

Gloucester hates you” (1.4.220). But as the dream has predicted, he is drowned. "I'll drown you

in the malmsey-butt within” (1.4.) Second, women also play an important role in the aspect of

the supernatural because they curse certain characters with their witchy ways. For instance, in

one scene Margaret focuses on cursing Richard and Elizabeth but she also curses Dorset,

Hastings, and Rivers but the reason she curses them is because they watched as her husband

and son die without taking action to stop it. “Rivers and Dorset, you were standers-by, And so

wast thou, Lord Hastings, when my son Was stabbed with bloody daggers. God I pray him.”

(1.3.209-213) Lady Anne also curses Richard’s wife. “If ever he have wife, let her be made More

miserable by the life of him” (1.2.26-27) Ironically, she curses herself because she marries

Richard but does not live long enough to be queen. Third, as Richard sleeps the night before

the battle, he has a dream about the ghosts of people whom he has hurt and killed. We first see
Prince Edward, as he says to Richard, “despair, therefore, and die” then King Henry VI also

says “despair, therefore, and die, then Clarence “by thy guile betrayed to death! Tomorrow in the

battle think on me, and fall thy edgeless sword: despair, and die!” The common thing we see

with all the ghosts is the prediction that Richard will lose the battle by saying despair and die.

The lesson behind Richard the III is that with every decision you make comes with a

consequence. We see that all the poor decisions he made in order to gain power inevitably

hurt him in the long run because of the all people he hurt along the way want and wish harm to

him. This contributes to the human nature aspect and promotes the idea that the audience

naturally likes the idea of having a tyrant being affected by the curses that the women put on

him and also having consequences to his decisions. The audience enjoy the idea that they can

affect tyranny with curses because sometimes they do not believe they have any power against

tyranny or the powerful. They want to believe that there is a way for people to get what they

deserve even if they themselves do not believe they have any power. This story is a perfect

example of human nature because while he chooses to make these decisions to gain power, he

was overwhelmed by the power and wants anything to keep it which is also interesting to the

audience because they associate power and greed together. Shakespeare used the

supernatural power of karma to demonstrate human nature and help the audience understand

what was happening to the characters in the story.

In Hamlet, the supernatural is also an important aspect to the plot because it drives Hamlet's

motivations throughout the play. First, we see in the opening scene how terrified the citizens of

Denmark are of unnatural things which also gives us a glimpse of how the audience feels about

things that they do not understand. “I'll cross it, though it blast me. Stay, illusion! If thou hast any

sound, or use of voice, Speak to me: If there be any good thing to be done, That may to thee do

ease and grace to me,” (1.1. 20) which is being terrified about what the ghost wants but

throughout the scene we see that the ghost just wants its present to be known. Second, later on
in act 1, we see the ghost reappear again, during this scene the ghost wants Hamlet to follow

him. During the next scene, The Ghost speaks to Hamlet about who he is and why he called out

to Hamlet “I am thy father's spirit, Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night” (1.5.10-11) then

later tells him what has become of him since his death. “Till the foul crimes done in my days of

nature are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid to tell the secrets of my prison-house”

(1.5.13-14) which is referring to hell where his soul is at. Importantly, the ghost tells Hamlet how

his death was caused, “foul and most unnatural murder” (1.5.25) “The serpent that did sting thy

father's life Now wears his crown.” which the ghost says this in order to tell him that his murder

was no accident. It was on purpose in order for Claudius to gain being King of Denmark. In

order for him to get justice, he convinces Hamlet that he needs to get revenge on his behalf.

Third, during the scene with Hamlet and Getrude, the Ghost once again appears one last time

to give Hamlet a warning to not take anything out on his mother but instead look at her and her

soul and talk to her so she understands. She wasn’t the apart of the murder, so Hamlet's father

wants him not to take revenge against her because she had nothing to do with it. “But look,

amazement on thy mother sits: O, step between her and her fighting soul:” In Hamlet I think the

idea of the supernatural is very different because he uses the supernatural as a representation

of his father and his grief from his death instead of demonstrating human nature for power and

karma. I think he is using the supernatural to put the idea of death and grief into the audience

because as human beings we are going to have to face the idea of death and one day we are

going to lose somebody we love because that’s how the world works and life. At that time,

Ghosts were considered because humans did not necessarily believe that death was the end of

our abilities on Earth. Shakespeare used the ghosts to relate to the audience what him and

they actually probably believed about death. Additionally, even today, people will avenge their

loved ones death. In this play, he uses the ghosts to show the true cause of a crime of death

and that the loved one would tell how it happened and why to avenge the death. But I think the

human action of the story is that in Hamlet’s eyes he was avenging someone who he loved with
all his heart, so he thought everything he had to do to help the grief was worth any price he had

to pay.

In Macbeth, we first see that there is a supernatural right from the beginning of the play

because Shakespeare introduces the characters of the three witches. They very much control

the play because they influence and control the action of Macbeth because of the way he tells

him of his future such as when they tell him that he will become king, “All hail, Macbeth, that

shalt be King hereafter”. They use it as a way to manipulate Macbeth to become King and in a

way become a tyrant because he wants to become King so he kills anybody who gets in his way

because he believes he should be King. Second, Once Macbeth interacts with them, he is

continuing to be involved with the supernatural after such as one of the visual representations of

this is when he sees the knife in the air. Because during this scene Macbeth sees a knife

floating in the air which is the continued insinuation of the supernatural because he has a vision

of this. The supernatural is encouraging his behavior. During this scene, he is wondering if it’s

real or not showing him descending further into madness when he can tell what’s real or fake.

“Dagger of the mind, a false creation / Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain” (2.1.38–39).

As he continues to look at the blade, he thinks there is blood on the blade, but he concludes that

the vision is a manifestation of his unease over killing Duncan and decides to get over with to

stop the vision. Third, another major clue into the supernatural is when Macbeth sees the ghost

of Banquo because he is horrified to see him in his chair during dinner in the castle. “Thou canst

not say I did it: never shake thy gory locks at me.” (3.4.50) But I think that Banquo was a

manifestation of his guilt for all the people he has killed. I also think Shakespeare added this

scene to represent more of the supernatural powers to demonstrate the human aspect for

people to see how far Macbeth has fallen. Also, in these three scenes, Shakespeare is trying to

show to the audience that the supernatural can be entertaining while also can be slightly

terrifying because during this time they had a certain view of what was known as the natural
order and normal. If they did not understand something, it was supernatural. The supernatural

also helped them understand their feelings and what was happening when they were unable to

process or felt powerless. It adds a psychological question what if they were in that position and

whether they would make some of the same decisions that Macbeth makes to achieve power in

their lives? Because I think if you asked anybody from that time, they would make the same

decisions because we are all human and we make decisions sometimes in our best interest or

to get ahead. But with this, it also adds to the human understanding that we have flaws. The

reason Shakespeare added that is to show nobody is perfect while adding a mix of supernatural

curiosity to it to relate to the audience and help them understand the plot so they could relate to

it and follow the plot.

In conclusion, Shakespeare uses supernatural effects instead of special effects or additional

plot development to allow the audience to have more understanding of the plot and what is

happening in the play. They did not have TV, computers or cameras to show multiple scenes or

side plots,etc. The characters are based on people of that time. Interestingly, Shakespeare is

able to show human nature does not change in time. We have greed, need for power, death,

love and revenge. Most people believe in the idea of karma as they did then even if they had a

different name for it. The characters were people of that time. They themselves did not

understand why certain things happened or certain people had power, money, or success and

others did not all the time. Birthright power for Kings was even sort of supernatural. You were

born into it. If you were able to overcome your birthright, you probably had powers or plans of

evil to overcome it so that you could be King or Queen. Even death was not always understood

why some people died suddenly or some people lived in similar circumstances. Interestingly,

Shakespeare used the supernatural to further his plot and show the reasons behind certain

events in his plays. People could relate to the supernatural because they believed in ghosts

and the evil of power. They believed that some people were lucky and that women encouraged
success or failure. They also believed in revenge for harm to your loved ones or themselves

caused by another. Women were often considered as the ones who put men up to deeds good

and bad. This could be the reason that Shakespeare uses witches. Shakespeare used the

supernatural to show the ways of human nature. He used them to demonstrate the reasons

behind greed, power, lust, revenge and love. He also used it so that the audience could

understand what was really the cause of a death that may or may not have been understood.

He also used it to show that it is better to do good deeds than bad deeds that may come back to

haunt you in your future or make you emotionally suffer when karma of your deeds comes back

to get you.

2. 2. Re-read Act 2, scene 1 of Macbeth. Then watch how Orson Welles adapts this scene in his
film adaptation of Macbeth (1948) Links to an external site.[watch from 20:29 "How goes the
night, boy?" to 26:27, "Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell / That summons thee to heaven or to
hell"] . First, simply describe Welles's staging of this scene, focusing particularly on Macbeth's
famous, "Is this a dagger?" soliloquy (you might want to discuss things like camera movement,
angles, and shots Links to an external site.; the physical movements and body language of the
actors; other aspects of the mise-en-scene Links to an external site.(lighting, framing,
composition, setting, props, costumes, etc). Then, discuss how Welles' interpolation of
Macbeth's dagger soliloquy with dialogue from Act 1, scene 7 of Shakespeare's play (i.e. the
way in which the former is broken up by the insertion of the latter into it) constitutes an
interpretation of the play. What aspects of the Shakespearean drama is Welles highlighting and
bringing to our attention by this rearrangement of the play's action and language? Lastly,
contrast this adaptation of the "Is this a dagger?" scene to Coen's adaptation of this same
scene.

In the Welles’s adaptation during the dagger scene, we see he puts Macbeth's words as a

voiceover as if we hear what is going on inside his head, so we see what he is thinking about

when he is about to murder Duncan. This helps the audience understand the meaning and

thoughts of Macbeth before he murders Duncan. Macbeth in this version seems like he is sort of

disoriented by the vision of the knife like by looking at it he is getting affected by its power to kill

and power to give him the power to kill. But I think it’s interesting that there is not a real knife,

but the vision to him because it is affecting him and hurting him in a way, too. It is a knife to hurt

himself also because if he kills him all he will be doing is causing himself pain. But to go into the
technical aspects that he adds with the camera angle and such. It very interesting that before

the knife scene we see that Banquo is in the light and we can see him very clearly while

Macbeth is hiding in the shadows I think this is very interesting because I think it is kinda

showing that Macbeth is doing all this very dark things like killing the King in order to become

King of Scotland but he is also hiding the fact that he was told by the witches what to do to be

King therefore continuing to be in the darkness because of the decisions he makes for power.

But steps into the light as he thinks to himself what he has to do which is kill Duncan. During the

scene where Macbeth is affected by the vision, we see that Welles chooses to use composition

in an interesting way by having the vision zoom in and out to see what Macbeth looks like as he

is disoriented which he looks by his body language and then him trying to grab something, but

he looks confused if it is truly there or not. The vision also shows where Duncan is sleeping to

show almost as a guiding hand to where he must go. Importantly, Macbeth's body language is

very still and cold almost indicating how calculating and intent his purpose is to kill for power. An

example of mise-en-scene is when Macbeth is looking in the opposite direction of where lady

Macbeth is on the stairs. Which shows he is feeling guilty and him going further down his dark

path. This shows he is still hesitant but continues due to temptation for power. This moment is

interesting because Lady Macbeth who is still on the stairs and standing above Macbeth is

shown in this scene to have a more of dominant role over him and tells him he basically has to

do this. Welles also uses framing when he is showing Macbeth and Lady Macbeth because he

is showing the love, they have for each other is a separate entity but also chooses to keep the

framing on her as Macbeth is going up the stairs showing her point of view of the events that

happen in a way. Interpolation of Macbeth is very interesting in this aspect when we see it near

a baby statue with the knife across the eyes which might be insinuating because of the knife it's

a representation that if he chooses to kill Duncan innocent people will die by his hand because

he thinks he needs the power. As Macbeth goes to grab the knife, it shows a different angle of

him zooming in on his face to get his reactions and it is filled with almost confusion and rage
which means even Macbeth may be confused by his actions and their necessity. Then,

interpolation happens again to show where he must go in a way because it shows a part of the

castle where the Duncan is. But we see another angle of Macbeth but this is almost him looking

directly at the camera. I think Welles is highlighting more of the thoughts that Macbeth is having

inside his brain and his confusion on the vision that keeps happening to him. Because during

the whole soliloquy, none of what he is saying is out loud except when he is talking to Lady

Macbeth which shows that he is thinking all of this inside his head almost which shows him

slowly descending further into madness. Welles is highlighting more of Macbeth reaction to the

vision so we can see more of his emotions regarding it. Coen version is very technical because

he chooses to zoom in on Macbeth boots almost to show Macbeth stepping closer to his own

destruction but also the lighting in this scene is very interesting because we see Macbeth going

in between the light and dark which is similar to Welles but in his version we see him either in

the light or dark. While in Coen version he goes in and out of darkness or light showing his

hesitation to kill someone aka darkness and so his soul in a way is fighting in between the

darkness and light. Importantly, Coen also chooses a very interesting setting for the scene

because it’s almost showing the equal amount of light with dark with the lighting of the palace,

but I think the setting also adds to the overall feeling of the scene since the palace represent the

power of King. I think in Coen’s version Macbeth is very cold and calculated because he’s

already made his decision and he uses sound in an interesting way too because we keep

hearing his boots clatter almost to show that this is happening in real life and not in head like the

Welles version. Also, it adds to the intensity of the situation. The knife in this version isn’t a

figment of his imagination but part of the door handle to show once he opens there is no going

back because he is surrounded by darkness.