Macbeth
Macbeth
English
William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth has a strong Supernatural theme throughout the story, The Supernatural elements are shown in many ways including ghosts, visions of objects, various perceived signs and messages but without doubt the biggest supernatural component is the three witches. This essay will examine the following, “Macbeth, the main character in the story becomes a tragic figure as he falls from greatness because of the interference of the supernatural, and how much are the witches to blame for Macbeth’s downfall.”
The question of who was responsible for Macbeth’s downfall needs to be put into the context of the play in Scotland in the very early 1600’s. This was a time when the belief in witchcraft was strong as was the belief in all things supernatural. In Scotland during this time it was a criminal offence to practise witchcraft of any kind. The King of Scotland during that time, James IV was a Christian who believed he represented god and therefore if god was represented in human form by him then the devil must be also be represented by a human and King James IV believed the devil was represented by witches. King James even wrote a book called Demonology and passed various laws against the use of witchcraft, with the penalty being death. It is believed by many that William Shakespeare wrote Macbeth for James IV and this is why it has such a strong Supernatural theme.
The first introduction of the supernatural in the play is in Act 1, Scene 1, as the play opens the three witches gather on the moor in Thunder and lightening. This opening scene sets the mood of the play and because of the beliefs at the time the play was written would have had a huge impact on the audience and a huge impact on the characters within the story.The first interaction between Macbeth and the witches takes place with the witches immediately speaking to...
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