"The Supernatural in Macbeth".
The supernatural plays a large role in the play Macbeth. This is seen in all of the scenes where the witches appear, the changes in nature during the night when Duncan was killed, in the apparitions of the prophecies, and with the dagger that shows Macbeth towards his king. The apparitions in act four are the same to those in the beginning of the play. The helmeted head represents Macbeth, and keeps showing his fear of Macduff. The bloody child represents Macduff, so this gives Macbeth assurance of his royalty. This is shown in the quote the power of man, for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth (Act four, scene one). Macduff's birth was unnatural. The crowned child bearing a tree represents Malcolm. This too gave Macbeth a feeling of power because he would never be harmed until Birnam Wood would come to Dunsinane Hill. If Macbeth did not take the immediate interpretation of the first three predictions, and looked for a different meaning then he may not have been overconfident which led him to his guilty conscience. Now comes the most interesting of the supernatural contained within the novel. This is the witches. They are a group of three and there are three prophecies. They had the power to tell the future and create storms. These are still today thought to be truly fictious. They are also thought to have no appearance. This is told to us by Banquo when he mentions that they are women but are bearded. He also tells us that they are withered, their clothes are ragged, their hands are skinny and rough, and that their lips are skinny and colorless. These witches have a very strong relation to Macbeth. One of which is that they represent Macbeths evil ambitions. After Act 1, Scene 3, they are not seen by anyone but Macbeth, and in Act 4, Scene 2, they are not seen by Lennox when they leave the cavern. Even though they are tied strongly to Macbeth they do not guide him, they only represent his ambitions and dreams.
