The Natural And The Supernatural In Macbeth By William Shakespeare

Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, features a hybrid cast between the natural and the supernatural. The witches, who were present from the opening scene, give Macbeth three prophecies that spark his ambition and set into motion the key events of the tragedy. As the play progresses it uses the witches to express themes of fate and responsibility, and the consequences of ambition of people with power. Towards the end of the play it is more evident that the witches’ “black magic has contaminated the most basic functions of human existence” (Stallybrass). In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the paranormal nature of the three witches demonstrates the influence of supernaturalism on Macbeth and shows the pervasiveness of superstitions during the sixteenth century. …show more content…
Their frequency, however, should not be taken as evidence for the truth of witchcraft but as evidence of the social utility of such beliefs in a variety of societies” (Stallybrass). “ The development of the motifs and imagery of magic in Macbeth let Shakespeare to take a closer look at the sources of classical mythology,” because the King at the time was a firm believer in Witches, and this way Shakespeare could make the witches look and sound more believable (Stallybrass). At the time deeming a woman a witch “can be used, for instance, to account for the “unnatural” ambition of a rival or for the ‘unnatural’ power of a woman. In doing so, such beliefs imply and legitimate their opposite, the ‘natural’” (Stallybrass). This shows the normality and saneness in the belief of