Friday, January 30, 2015

Analyse the role of supernatural machinery in "Macbeth".

The most exciting & detailed-out supernatural element in Macbeth is the Witches. The three witches & their queen, Hecate, not only contribute to the dark, uncanny atmosphere, they also highlight the problematic of evil--the temptation & the fall. They may resemble the 'fate sisters' in Classical mythology as well as an ironic reminder of the temptation of Christ by three tempters. Macbeth, the admired saviour of Scotland, is Christ gone wrong. By making their proclamations on the heath, they exteriorise the germ of evil in Macbeth. Apart from remarkably adding up to the visual theatre of Macbeth, the witches are responsible for Macbeth's doing; later in the play, the three apparitions conjured by the witches equivocate to his undoing.


The air-drawn dagger seen by Macbeth just before the murder of Duncan, and the ghost of Banquo, appearing at the banquet are two more supernatural elements which illustrate the subjective & psychological version when intense fear & guilt assume the form of supernatural visions.


In Macbeth, Shakespeare uses the supernatural in all possible dimensions--theatrical & psychological, objective & subjective, realistic & symbolic.

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