The Supernatural in

Macbeth
WIL LIAM SHAKESPE AR E

D L E / FA LA / U ER N CA M I LA , J O Y C E, RAV EN N A P RO F ° MA RI A N O TAVA R ES
 1 Social Context
The English Crown

2 Main Supernatural Element

The Three Witches: The Weird Sisters

Summary 3 The Five Prophecies

4 Banquo's Ghost

5
Sources
 Social Context
When James Charles Stuart assumed the English crown, James VI of
Scotland became James I of England. Like Elizabeth, James was a
strong believer in the divine right of Kings and their absolute authority.

James’s court was a site of wealth, luxury, and extravagante. James I

commissioned elaborate feasts, masques, and pageants, and in doing so
he more than doubled the royal debt. Reigning from 1603 to 1625,
James I remained the King of England throughout the last years of
Shakespeare’s life.
The event that had the biggest impact on the 1606 production of
Macbeth — and which may have been responsible for Shakespeare
writing this play — was the ascension of King James I of England.

Some critics view the production of Macbeth a tribute to his

company’s patron. Others have argued the opposite — that this play is
more a criticism of King James than a tribute to him.
• The play is entirely set in Scotland, based on Scottish history
and legend, and populated with Scotsmen.

• Then there’s all the supernatural elements. James I was an avid

scholar of all things strange, weird, and superstitious.

• Witchcraft seems to have been a real obsession of James, as he

was heavily involved in a series of witch trials in 1590.
 Main Supernatural Element

Macbeth and the Witches by Joseph Anton Koch

The opening scene of Macbeth not only introduces the audience to
the supernatural element that will be carried throughout the play, but
it also establishes a theme of disorder through the presence of the
witches, the stormy weather, and the bleak landscape. The witches
(or weird sisters) probably would have been portrayed on the stage
— as they have been in modern cinematic productions — as
grotesque and ugly creatures.
Audience members in Early Modern England viewed witchcraft
differently than audiences do today. At that time, many people,
including King James I, believed in the presence of witches and
their ability to harm and destroy virtuous people.

The witches agree that they will meet Macbeth at a particular time
and place, suggesting the importance of that encounter, which will
occur in Act I, Scene 3.
 The Five Prophecies

Photograph of the witches in Barry Kyle's production of Macbeth, 1983

ACT I - SCENE 3
1. Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor—and eventually King of
Scotland.

First Witch: All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Glamis!

Second Witch: All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!
Third Witch: All hail, Macbeth! that shalt be king hereafter.
ACT I - SCENE 3
2. Banquo’s children will become kings.

First Witch: Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.

Second Witch: Not so happy, yet much happier.
Third Witch: Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none: So,
all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!
ACT IV - SCENE 1
3. Macbeth should “beware Macduff.”

Macbeth: Tell me, thou unknown power, —

First Witch: He knows thy thought: Hear his speech, but say
thou nought.
First Apparition: Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!
beware Macduff; Beware the Thane of Fife. Dismiss me.
Enough.
ACT IV - SCENE 1
4. Macbeth cannot be harmed by anyone “of woman born.”

Macbeth: Had I three ears, I’d hear thee.

Second Apparition: Be bloody, bold, and resolute;
laugh to scorn
The power of man, for none of woman born
Shall harm Macbeth. [Descends]
ACT IV - SCENE 1
5. Macbeth cannot be beaten until “Great Birnam Wood to
high Dunsinane shall come.”

All: Listen but speak not to ’t.

Third Apparition: Be lion-mettled, proud, and take
no care
Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are:
Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until
Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill
Shall come against him. [Descends]
 Banquo's Ghost

Actors playing Macbeth Act III - Scene IV

Macbeth (1971)
Most likely, in an Early Modern production, the ghost would have
been visible to the audience whereas Macbeth’s earlier hallucination
of the dagger would not have been.

At this point, the relationship between appearance and reality falls

apart, even for the audience. Sidney Lamb asserts that this confusion
could be an allusion to King James’s work on witches, called
Daemonologie, which contends that ghosts were punishment for the
guilty or faithless.
Unlike modern plays, the printed texts of Shakespeare’s play contain
very few stage directions. Some aspects of performance can be
located in internal stage directions. A good example of this type of
direction occurs when Macbeth addresses the ghost. He tells him not
to “shake [his] gory locks” (51).

But the ghost seen in Macbeth could also represent the guilt he
carries for the violence committed. When they say – "Will all great
Neptune’s ocean wash this blood, clean from my hand? No, this my
hand will rather, the multitudinous seas incarnadine (2.2)"
In the lines – "Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold. Thou
hast no speculation in those eyes (3.4)" Macbeth speak when
Banquo’s ghost appears to him at the banquet. Macbeth’s vision of
the ghost reveals his guilt over ordering the murder of Banquo and
his young son.

In doing so, Macbeth reveals that his tormented consciousness is

leading him to start losing his grip on sanity.
When remorse returns to him again, Macbeth plots the death of
Banquo because he is an objectification of Macbeth's guilty
conscience, and he hopes that his mind will rest more peacefully when
Banquo's goodness is not present to remind Macbeth of his evil. This
false hope is terrifyingly eliminated when Banquo's ghost appears.
JAMIESON, Lee. Why the 'Macbeth' Witches Are Key to Shakespeare's Play. 2019. Disponível em:
<https://www.thoughtco.com/the-witches-in-macbeth-2985023>. Acesso em: 26 de julho de 2023.

MACBETH. Direção de Polanski. S.I.: Columbia Pictures, 1971. P&B. Disponível em:
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0Lwb9BxySA>. Acesso em: 26 de julho de 2023.

MORROW, CHRISTOPHER L. Shakespeare's Macbeth. CliffsComplete - Hungry Minds, Inc. NY,

2000.

NEVES, K. King James I and Macbeth | Utah Shakespeare Festival. Disponível em:
<https://www.bard.org/news/king-james-i-and-macbeth/>. Acesso em 26 de junho de 2023.

A EDWARDS, James. The Conscience of Macbeth. 1963. 105 f. Tese (Doutorado) - Curso de
Master Of Arts, North Texas State University, Denton, Texas, 1963.