History books can sometimes be quite dull and time consuming, where reading a play by William Shakespeare is not only entertaining but also enlightening on some of the history of Elizabethan times. 'Macbeth' in particular, written in the 16th Century, is a mirror image of the themes and beliefs of Elizabethan times. Some of the themes and beliefs of the Elizabethan era are what some people in the 21st century still believe, like Karma, that is if you do something awful to someone it will eventually get you back worse than what you did to them, but some beliefs are not taken as seriously now as they were in the Elizabethan period, for example today you wouldn't believe a witch if she told you that you were going to become King, if you did believe that then you would be considered strange.
             The Elizabethans believed that when the natural arrangement of the universe is disrupted by something terrible, the world is thrown into chaos and reflects this disruption through events such as storms, lightning, diseases, etc. When King Duncan's murder is about to take place the corruption of the deed sends the heavens turning with the thunderstorm approaching ferociously and the wildness of the horses as they are troubled by an unruly force which is meant to represent wickedness and darkness. Science and medicine were not as advanced in the Elizabethan period as they are in the 21st century, so there had to be a belief or an explanation of some kind for things that happened. These beliefs or explanations were usually based around the supernatural, astronomical effects (involving the universe and the planets, etc) or religion.
             The supernatural beliefs in 'Macbeth' suggest that witches were somehow accepted and were trusted where as in Elizabethan times some women were accused of being witches and were usually burned or hanged for doing things out of the ordinary, so women would generally obey their husbands orders...