Macbeth

The American heritage dictionary defines the word supernatural as an, “existence relating to outside of the natural world” (Dell 825). In the play Mac Beth, William Shakespeare uses the supernatural to captivate the audiences’ attention. While the play would have the same plot without these elements, it just would not be as interesting.

The play, Romeo and Juliet has the chorus set up the plot and in Macbeth the supernatural does the job. In essence, to captivate the audience’s attention, instead of using the expected or the norm, Shakespeare uses three witches.

1st Witch When shall we three meet again

2nd Witch When the hurlyburly’s done,

3rd Witch That will be ere the set of sun.

3rd Witch There to meet Macbeth (1.1.1-8 ).

In Act 1 Scene 1, Shakespeare uses the three witches to set a dialogue to foreshadow the coming events in the play. “When the hurlburly’s done/When the battle is lost and won (1.1.3-4 ). This line lets the audience/readers know that the play is centered around battle and most likely will have soldiers as characters. In addition, this battle will be ended by sundown,

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44-45)

At this point Macbeth questions the three witches, “Speak if you can: what are you?” (1. After the murder has taken place, he attends a dinner party his wife is holding. He questions their appearance as to whether or not they are human. “A dagger of the mind, a false creation, / Proceeding from the heart oppressed brain? (2. 33-39)

The unexplainable sighting is a dagger that floats in the air. This is obvious by the way, Macbeth speaks to the space of the chair as if it were a person. In trying, to describe the existence of the dagger Macbeth foreshadows two events; a dagger will be used to kill the king, and the fact that he will have a troubled mind after the murder.

The conversation Macbeth has with the chair makes it evident to the guest that he believes he is seeing a ghost. / If charnel houses and our graves must send/ Those that we bury back, our monuments/ Shall be the maws of kites” (3. “That look not like th’inhabitants o’th’earth, /And yet are on’t? Live you? or are you aught (1.

Approximate Word count = 1252
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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