MACBETH SUPERNATURAL

MACBETH SUPERNATURAL

1. Disguised Witches as visions, L.M as incantations

2. Witchcraft

   • Expose evil within M
     • Directs evil to deeds
   • Highlights evil forces at work
   • Creates powerful atmosphere

3. Witches first appearance, evil sets scene

   • Thunder & lightning suggests havoc, Scotland experience

4. Witches know tell M thing, prey on mind

   • Witches knowledge, drug to M
     • M hooked from start
       • "Would they had stayed" (1.3.83)
         • M wants more, leads M to witches later
           • B warns not trust supernatural knowledge
             • M won't listen

5. Supernatural affected M

   • Dagger visions (2.1)
   • B ghost (3.4)

6. L.M calls dark forces, asking demonic spirits, posses mind &body, all human pity removed (1.5)

7. Witches speak in patterns, remind us of magic spells

8. Other characters speak in blank verse, Witches' lines shorter & rhyme

9. Other times speak chorally, impression, one being & adds strangeness

10. Start play, warn "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" (1.1.11)

11. Echoed by M first met " So foul and fair a day I have not seen" (1.3.37)

    • Witches cause "Foul" atmosphere?
    • Or comment on it?

12. Casting spells

    • ******

13. Natural vs supernatural

    • AO2

14. M fascinated by supernatural revelations, B rejects

    • B nature lover (1.4)

15. Shake suggests "Supernatural" opposite of "Natural"

16. Unnatural acts

    • Murder Macduff family
      • Macbeth king
        • See context

17. About supernatural

    • AO1
      • How Shake show how it affects human beings
      • Not responsible for actions
      • M & B tempted by Witches
        • B resists temptation to force prophecy
        • M filled with temptation

18. AO3

    • King James hated witchcraft.
      • 1952 interrogated witch Agnes Sampson
        • She privately said words spoken by him and wife in bed on first night of marriage
          • He "Swore by the living God that he believed all the devils in Hell could not have discovered the same"

19. A01

    • First Witches appearance (1.1)
      • Witches speak with M & B (1.3)
        • M sees dagger (2.1)
          • B ghost (3.4)
            • Witches meet Hecat
              • M summons Witches (4.1)