1. Supernatural Elements and Impacts in the play Macbeth:
“Man is not the creature of circumstances
Circumstances are the creatures of man.”
Macbeth, throughout the play, is presented as one much abovethe ordinary beings,
and, as such, he fulfils the basic -requirements of being a tragic hero. Shakespeare, introduces him
as a brave general, a bold, resolute man of action whothrough as also referred to “Valor’s minion”,
“Bellona’s bridegroom’’, the king’s ‘’valiant cousin’’, a very “eagle’’ among ‘’sparrows’’, a ‘’lion’’
among ‘’hares’’. It is a play, whichis depicting a complete destruction, wrestling with creation. It is
a study of the disintegration and damnation of a man. And yet, Macbeth is a ‘tragic hero’. Here
presents,thehero’scompletesymboliclife-journeyina reflective patternto ensuretheonlyoperation
of evil in thisworld.
‘Macbeth: “Come, let me clutch thee:
I havethee not,fatalvision,sensible
To feeling as to sight?”‘
In the third scene of the first act of the play though the hero accepts evil overtly,
there is a suggestion that, even before the commencement of action of the play, he has fallen under
the influence of evil.
‘Banquo : ..“Merciful powers,
Restrainin me the cursed thoughts that nature
Gives way to repose.”‘
The Witches, merely prophecy certain things forMacbeth. They do not influence him
in any concrete manner, but the effectof the prophecy is to make Macbeth, start as if he were
already guilty of harboring dangerous ideas. It is a factthat his ambition impels him towards “the
swellingact of the imperialtheme”,though his conscience fills him withhorror at the idea that has
come to him about how to gain the throne.
‘Macbeth: “Come what come may,
Timeand the hourrunsthroughthe roughestday.”‘
Macbeth, is the starkest and the least discursive of Shakespeare’s tragedies as
Granville-Barker has pointed out. The deterioration of Macbeth’s character illustrates the theme of
conscience and its decline. From a brave soldier and noble person Macbeth reaches a state when he
is a soulless man, a beast chained to a stake like a beast!
‘Second Witch: “By the pricking of my thumbs,
Somethingwicked this way comes;

2. Openlocks, whoeverknocks.”‘
The forcesof evilare always ready to ensnare man; but they have their limitations. They
do not, indeed cannot, force man into evil;they can merely tempt man to choose to follow evilways.
Macbeth,deliberatelychoose-notonce,butseveraltimes in the play-theevilpath. Atevery stageof
Macbeth’sdegenerationwewitnessthechoicebeingmade deliberately,atthesametime thereis a
senseof inevitability,aboutMacbeth’schoices.
‘Macbeth: “How now, you secret, black, and midnight hags!
Whatis’t youdo?
All the Witches:A deed withouta name.”‘
Much more, than the other elements, the Witches introduce an element of supernatural
mystery and fear into Macbeth. According to Charles Lamb,” They are foul anomalies, of whom we
know not whence they are sprung, or whether they have beginning or ending. As they are without
human passions, they seem to be withouthuman relations. They come with thunder and lightning
and vanish to airy music.”It is significant that the play opens with a brief meeting of the Three
Witches.
‘Old Man: “Threeescore and ten I can remember well;
Within the volumeofwhichtime, I haveseen
Hours dreadfuland things strange,butthis sorenight
Hath trifled formerknowings.”‘
The opening scene, in factis important, in that whichmakes a complete sense of mystery,
strikes the keynote of the play:
..’ Second Witch: “When the hurly-burly’s done,
Whenthe battle’s lost, and won.
Third Witch:Thatwillbe the ere the set of sun.
FirstWitch:Where the place?
Second Witch:Upontheheath.
Third Witch:Thereto meet with Macbeth.’’ ‘
When we meet the Witches again in ActI, Sc.iii, weget to know of their physical aspects.
They are withered and not dressed like earthly beings; their fingers are choppy and lips skinny.
They looklike women, and yet they are bearded. They can at will vanish into air, can foresee the
future, and possess more than mortal knowledge. They are by no means the ordinary witchesof
popular super -station; they are more powerfulbeings, resembling rather the “Goddesses of Devine

3. “as Holinshed calls them. Shakespeare has endowed they may have powerover Nature, but that
power is not -absolute. They may have power overa man’s soul but that
power is not absolute either. It is when a mortal mind is tainted that they can have an influence on
it. Their prophecy only gives a definite shape to the dark thoughts that have already been
smoldering in Macbeth’s mind. The thought of assassinating Duncan occurs to him independently of
‘them’-without any hint from ‘them’. Macbethreads into the prophecies a“supernaturalsoliciting”,to
murderand, LadyMacbethlooksuponthemas “metaphysicalaid.” TheWitchesin Macbeth never
solicit nor aid- this is nothing -but a wishful thinking.
‘Macbeth:‘’Why sinks thatcauldron? And whatnoiseis this? “‘
Themost-distinct suggestion,ofthesupernaturalinMacbethcomes from Banquo’s Ghost.
There is no doubt that we can see withMacbeth the uncanny apparition, the blood blotched ghost.
Banquo’s Ghost plays an important role in the action of tragedy. The horror of its sight compels
Macbeth to make many a comprising disclosure. As Coleridge points out them, “as true a creation of
Shakespeare’s as his Ariel and Caliban” and “wholly different fromthe representation of Witches in
the contemporary writers, and yet presented a sufficientof witchesin the contemporary writers,
and yetpresented a sufficient external resemblance to the creatures of vulgar prejudice, to act
immediately on the audience.”
‘All the Witches:“Double,doubletoil and trouble,
Fire burnand cauldronbubble.”‘
Though the Witches here do not have a direct share in its action they are a very
important part of the play. The play from its very beginning continues under their evilshadows
until the shadows are finally lifted in the last scene with Macduff’s entry with “the usurper’s cursed
head.” The tragedy would lose all its magnificence without its strange atmosphere and the
atmosphere would amount to nothing without the presence of the Witches.
‘All the Witches: “Fair is foul, and foul is fair,
Hover through the fog and filthy air.”
Lenox describes the ‘unruly’ night in some detail:
“Our chimneys were blown down; and, as they say
Lamentings heard i’th’ air;strangescreams ofdeath,
And, prophesyingwith accents terrible
Of direcombustion,and confused events,
New hatch’d toth’ woefultime, the obscurebird
Clamour’d the live long night;some say,the earth

4. Was feverous,and did shake.”
In the next scene, Ross and the Old Man discuss of similar events that have taken
place during the fatefulnight:
‘Old Man: ‘On Tuesday last
A falcontow’ringin herprideof place,
Was by a mousingowlhawk’d atand kill’d.” ‘
Theportentssuggestatopsy-turvysituationinNatureandemphasizethenaturalness
of Macbeth’sheinousdeedinmurderingDuncanwho is at once his king, kinsman andguest.
Ross:“And Duncan’s horses,a thingmoststrangeand certain,
Beauteous and swift,the minions oftheirrace,
Turn’d wild innature,broketheir stalls, flung out,
Contending‘gainstobedienceas they would
Makingwarwith mankind.”‘
Theaccountsof these supernaturalhappenings hencearehelpingtowards the
atmosphereofhorrorin theplay. - ‘An owl shrieks
Lady Macbeth: ..’’It was the owl that shriek’d, the fatal bellman
Which gives thestern’st good-night.”‘
King Edward, the Confessor was thought to be inspired with a gift of prophecy
and also to possess the gift of healing infirmities and some incurable diseases. Though one motive
of the references may havebeento flatter James I, anothervalid justificationondramatic
grounds,is thatthe good supernaturaldescribed hereis a contrastto the evil supernaturalof
the witches.Man’s actions are, therefore, not isolated but closely connectedto various forces
operating in the universe. At the same time, it is made to clear that effectwould be different if Man
did not succumb to the evil within him.
‘Lady Macbeth: “Come, you spirits
Thattend on mortalthoughts, unsexme here
Andfill me fromthe crownto the toe topfull
Of direstcruelty.”‘
It isnoticeablethat Macbethhimselfneverblames the Witches for his sinister
actions.Thesupernaturalelementscontributeto the playa rich texture,raise thetragedyto a cosmic
dimensionto a senseofFate, operatinginman’s life in Macbeth. Macbeth’s failure to utter the word

5. ‘Amen’ is also acceptedonly as a psychologic.The air-drawn dagger is not strictly a part of the
supernatural. The visionary dagger that Macbeth perceives just before committing Duncan’s
murder has been interpreted more as a projection of Macbeth’s heated mind than as a concrete
reality to be felt and known.It is he who makes it possible for Birnam Wood to come to Dunsinane
Castle shutting himself up inside. It is he who senselesslymurderingMacduff’s familyrouses Macduff
who is “noneofwomanborn”-to revenge.Beforehis end, hesimplyblames the jugglingfiends asthey,
“keepthe wordof promiseto ourear and breakit to our hope.”
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“Roses have thorns, and silver fountains mud;
Cloudsandeclipsesstainboth moonandsun.”
- Shakespeare’sArt,therefore,is evolvingfromaDeepUnderstandingofthe ComplexityofHuman
Nature!
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(References, words, sentences, ideas.settings from ‘William Shakespeare’s Macbeth- A critical
evaluation, Dr. S. Sen.)