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The Macbeth: Superstitions Macbeth: Superstitions The tragedy of Macbeth was written by Shakespeare in 1606 and produced in 1610. Macbeth is the most concentrated of Shakespeare's tragedies. The action gushes forward with great speed from the beginning to end. The main characters in the play are Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, who are very noble, but their evil ambition ultimately causes their downfall and death.
The play focuses around evil, greed and the supernatural. The play was written by Shakespeare for the king at that time, since he was a big believer of witches and the supernatural. Supernatural is classified as the unnatural or the explainable mysteries of our universe. In Shakespeare's time many people would relate many of the unusual happening against the supernatural, since this was the most simplistic of an answer to give. Elizabethans have several beliefs in superstitions. Some of these superstitions include that they believe in witches, ghosts, destiny, and the foretelling of the future.
This essay will investigate superstitions and how they are used in the play Macbeth. Witches were believed by many people in Shakespeare's day. The supernatural was believed by everyone from the educated to the non-educated. When something was not explainable they would relate that problem to the supernatural, even though today that same problem was explainable in scientific terms.
The witches in this play are named by Shakespeare as the weird Sisters. These witches had all the features of witches in those days; old people, dirty broken clothe and come together in groups of three. These witches have many animals but in this play a cat, and a toad are used who are actually evil spirits who have taken this form. In Macbeth we here about the owl quite often which has to relate to the witches. The owl gives a sense of scariness which makes the paly thrilling to read.
It keeps the reader hooked to the play and the suspense increases with every scary sound. Macbeth had many nightmares, which were caused by the witches, even so hallucinations, such as the air-drawn dagger. that Macbeth seen before he went to kill Duncan. The very word nightmare, often called in Shakespeare's time the riding of the witch, which refers to a witch riding wildly through the night on horseback, visiting bad dreams on her victims. Supernatural is the unusual, unseen, and the unknown. The supernatural occurs in many parts of the play.
The supernatural occurs in the appearances of the witches, in the strange behaviour in nature on the night of Duncan's murder, in the appearance of Banquos ghost, in the apparitions with their prophecies, and in the air-drawn dagger that guides Macbeth towards his victim. The apparitions in Act four scene one have special meaning. Their three prophecies parallel the three of the first of the play. The first apparition, the helmeted head, represents Macbeth himself and echoes the fears of his mind concerning Macduff. The second, the bloody child, represent Macduff no man born of women would eve conquer him. Macduff's birth was unnatural.
The third apparition, a crowned child bearing a tree, represents Malcolm. The apparition told Macbeth that he would never be harmed until Birnam Wood come to Dunsinane Hill. The prophecies at the beginning of the play led him to his success, and those at the end just led to his death. In addition to the apparitions, Banquos ghost also makes an appearance with his show of kings. Ghosts is a form of superstition since it cannot be explained. A ghost might of even possessed Lady Macbeth when she went crazy and seen blood on her hands.
Witches are regarded as old women who have supernatural powers by the devil himself, to whom they had sold their souls and assumed the bodies of old women for their evil purposes. Witches in Shakespeare times were also classified as being goddesses of punishment, and with fairies and elves, creatures of folklore who were more sinister than we think of them today. The witches in Macbeth were closely associated with the number three were suppose to have magical significance. Their powers were in part to tell future events, to create evil and destruction. The witches could not however do fatal harm to their victims. In appearance they were sexless.
Banquos says that they should be women but they have a beard. The witches relation to Macbeth is that they represent Macbeth's evil ambition, only Macbeth can see the witches and no one else. Later in the play they lead him to his destruction. They do not guide Macbeth but they only represent his own wishes and thoughts. Shakespeare's witches are a compound of native folklore and classical mythology. They serve demons, for they are summoned by the devil and predict apparitions.
They are associated with Hecate, the Greek goddesses of sorcery. Although the witches can foretell the future, the main idea of the play is that Macbeth bears responsibility for his own actions. The witches, and ghosts influence him but do not control his destiny. Superstitions were often believed by many Elizabethans in Shakespeare's time but how are these superstitions used in the play. Superstitions are the unnatural unseen of the universe.
Witches were one of these superstitions. Witches are no longer a big thing in todays society but it was a different story for Elizabethans in Shakespeare's time. The witches and other superstitions in the play which include ghosts, destiny and apparitions all have a role in the play about Macbeth. These superstitions were used to entertain the people of Shakespeare's time. Today, we still read his books, for a source of humour or for a sad tragedy. These superstitions are not often believed for the occurrences happening today but we can still relate to them.
In the play the superstitions are put into play with ghosts: Banquos ghosts with the kings, witches: three which they led Macbeth to his death, the devil: witches possessed by the devil, apparitions: the foretelling of Macbeth's future and destiny: the future told by the witches but not entirely true. i. e They told him that he would be king but not how he would become king. The witches told Macbeth who, what, why, where but they did not tell him how and when. So as you can see superstitions were greatly believed and related to in Elizabethan time and the same superstitions were used in the play with a bit of imagination a great play writer and book was written.
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