Supernatural Influence On Macbeth

While many characters are free-spirited and can think and act individually, some characters do not have enough willpower to do so. Some characters even rely on other characters or even the supernatural to help influence their thinking and decision making. In the critically-acclaimed early 1600s Shakespearean play, The Tragedy of Macbeth, the theme of the supernatural and its influence on human behavior is consistently supported throughout. This is shown when the witches tell Macbeth the prophecy of being king, when Macbeth sees the dagger, and when the apparitions tell Macbeth about his future kingship. The witch and their initial prophecies influence Macbeth’s behavior by making him believe that he will become King. The witches foreshadow …show more content…
When Macbeth saw the floating dagger and heard the bell, he was influenced to kill the king. When Macbeth is debating to kill Duncan, he sees “a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee (Shakespeare II, 1, 609)”. The dagger especially pushes him to kill Duncan. It also signifies the tipping point in his sanity. Without the influence of the dagger, Macbeth could not kill Duncan; he simply does not have it in him. It is shown that Macbeth is crazy when “Macbeth unravels the strands that hold his sanity together, posing to himself a violent surge of pros and cons, relishing in the diversities of what might be the consequences of the deed imagined to be done (McGuinness 4)”. The last of Macbeth’s sanity is lost when he kills King Duncan. Once “The deed is done”, he is found standing, sword in hand, completely empty of emotion. He is not just a body and mind void of all feelings, except greed. Macbeth decides to go when he hears the bell, “I go, and it is done; the bell invites me. Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell that summons thee to heaven or to hell (Shakespeare II, 1, 609)”. Macbeth considers the tone of the bell a sort of “sign” that it is time for him to kill Duncan. At this point Macbeth has made up his mind and is on his way to kill King Duncan. Macbeth certainly could not kill Duncan on his own accord, so outside influences had to push him to do …show more content…
Macbeth would have never been so cocky about his throne, he would have never killed King Duncan, and most importantly he would never get the idea to take the drastic measures to become king in the first place. The supernatural made people go crazy, especially Macbeth. He was so focused on the prophecy on the witches that he forgot about the important things in life. His family, his friends, and his kingdom. He was to absorbed in becoming king that he forgot about all the people that helped him get there. However, without the direct influence of the supernatural, he would have never had the powerful position of king that he