Supernaturalism Leads To Tragedy
Writers often include supernatural elements in their work to add suspense and interest. Macbeth imbues us with a feeling of the omnipresence of the supernatural and deepens the sense of fear and revulsion (Clark 93). The supernatural characters that appear in Macbeth play an important role in creating a sense of horror as well as foreshadowing what will happen next. For example, in the opening sense, witches are used to create an atmosphere of horror and suspense. This sets the mood of a dreary, almost gothic tone; foreshadowing that evil is about to take place. In this paper, I will show how the supernatural led Macbeth to his short career of murders.
Without the first meeting between Macbeth and the witches, there would be no play. This meeting turns Macbeth into a hypnotic state of mind when the witch prophesies that he will be king. "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glames! All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor! All hair, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!" (Shakespeare 7). After hearing such a fortune being told about his future, he thought the only way to make this happen is to kill King Duncan. Being extremely curious about such a prophecy, Macbeth turned to his wife, Lady Macbeth, for advice on the situation at hand. With a suspicious amount of encouragement coming from his wife, Macbeth decided to kill King Duncan so he could claim the throne before King Duncan's song, Malcolm could. As soon as Macbeth killed the king, killing became exceptionally easy for him to do. Without crossing the temptation of the three witches, Macbeth may have never killed outside of battle and this play would not exist.
After Macbeth got away with committing his first murder and finding his way to the throne, he became unsure about Banquo's loyalty and whose children will be future kings of Scotland. "Thou hast it nowKing, Cawdor, Glamis, all as the Weird Women promised, and I fear though played'st most foully for it....
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