Shakespeare's Portrayal of the Natural and Supernatural in Macbeth

1. Macbeth How does Shakespeare present the natural and the supernatural?

2. How does Shakespeare present the natural and the supernatural? • Natural • Supernatural • Unnatural What does each of these represent?

3. How does Shakespeare present the natural and the supernatural? • Natural: order, normality, goodness…

4. How does Shakespeare present the natural and the supernatural? • Supernatural: evil, abnormal or different, outside of society…

5. How does Shakespeare present the natural and the supernatural? • Unnatural: disordered, abnormal, disruptive, unsettling…

6. How does Shakespeare present the natural and the supernatural? • The ‘natural’ order is the correct one. • The supernatural are a malign presence in the mortal world. • Unnatural happenings are a result of the disruption of the natural and the normal. • The supernatural can influence the natural and create unnatural events.

7. The ‘natural’ order is the correct one. Who represents the natural order? King Duncan; Macduff; Malcolm.

8. The ‘natural’ order is the correct one. Who represents the natural order? The Divine Right of Kings makes it clear that it is ‘natural’ and right for Duncan to rule Scotland. Although treason occurs during his reign, this is defeated and order is restored. Interestingly, this sense of order is emphasised by the manner of the death of the first Thane of Cawdor: ‘…very frankly he confessed his treasons, implored your highness’ pardon and set forth a deep repentance. Nothing in his life became him like the leaving of it.’ (Act 1 scene 4 – page 19)

9. The ‘natural’ order is the correct one. Who represents the natural order? Duncan is associated with things natural and good; when he is rewarding Macbeth and Banquo for their role in the battle, his language reflects natural imagery: ‘I have begun to plant thee and will labour to make thee full of growing.’ (Act 1 scene 4 – page 21) Banquo’s response, ‘There if I grow, the harvest is your own’, reinforces the notion that it is natural and right to have Duncan on the throne.

10. The ‘natural’ order is the correct one. Who represents the natural order? When declaring Malcolm next in line, Duncan references the idea that ‘…signs of nobleness like stars shall shine’ (Act 1 scene 4 – page 21) again referring to a natural phenomenon and its constant presence. In contrast, in this same scene, Macbeth asks ‘Stars hide your fires’ and Lady Macbeth calls on ‘thick night’ (Act 1 scene 5 – page 25). They both try to evade nature and create an unnatural darkness.

11. The ‘natural’ order is the correct one. Who represents the natural order? In a play where emotions are hidden and disguised, Macduff’s genuine and natural response to the news that his wife and children have been slaughtered provides a contrast. Whilst both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth lose their compassion, remorse and humanity (all natural emotions) Macduff expresses exactly how he feels, using terms of endearment which are natural in their language : ‘All my pretty ones? Did you say all? O hell-kite! All? What, all my pretty chickens and their dam at one fell swoop?’ (Act 4 scene 3 – page 127)

12. The ‘natural’ order is the correct one. Who represents the natural order? Macduff also shows us that it is natural for men to have emotions, even if the brutal world in which they live means it is hard to express them: ‘I shall do so; but I must also feel it like a man; I cannot but remember such things were that were most precious to me.’ (Act 4 scene 3 – page 129) These natural reactions provide a glimmer of hope and order in the bleakness of the world Macbeth has created.

13. The ‘natural’ order is the correct one. Who represents the natural order? Macduff is also fundamental in the restoration of the natural order. It is he who fights Macbeth and beheads him. When Macduff refers to Macbeth as a ‘monster’ (Act 5 scene 8 – page 153) this emphasises the contrast between the natural and the unnatural and thus between right and wrong.

14. The ‘natural’ order is the correct one. Who represents the natural order? The play ends with the restoration of the natural order: Malcolm becomes king of Scotland, assuming the role that Duncan had laid out for him. Lennox describes the attempt to bring Malcolm to the throne thus ‘Or so much as it needs to dew the sovereign flower and drown the weeds.’ (Act 5 scene 2 – page 139). Shakespeare again associates the rightful king with natural imagery.

15. The ‘natural’ order is the correct one. Who represents the natural order? Macbeth is rarely associated with natural imagery and when he is, it only shows how unnatural he has become: ‘My way of life is fall’n into the sere, the yellow leaf’ (Act 5 scene 3 – page 141) Here Shakespeare’s use of natural imagery suggests an unnatural demise for Macbeth.

16. Unnatural happenings are a result of the disruption of the natural and the normal. Throughout the play there are references to unnatural happenings… • Visions and hallucinations; • Loss of sleep; • Madness and insanity; • Animals behaving strangely.

17. Unnatural happenings are a result of the disruption of the natural and the normal. Why? Shakespeare’s message seems to be that disrupting the natural order will only end in chaos. The murder of Duncan is a crime against God and against the natural order of the world. Once this has happened, Scotland experiences a raft of bizarre occurrences. Importantly, the perpetrators of the crime suffer unnatural happenings too.

18. Unnatural happenings are a result of the disruption of the natural and the normal. Visions and hallucinations Shakespeare indicates clearly to the audience the horror of regicide through Macbeth’s delusional and feverish imaginings: ‘Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight? Or art thou but a dagger of the mind, a false creation proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?’ (Act 2 scene 1 – page 41) The murder seems to spill from a mind which is ill and corrupted by ideas of ambition and power.

19. Unnatural happenings are a result of the disruption of the natural and the normal. Visions and hallucinations This is emphasised later in the play when Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost: ‘This is the very painting of your fear; this is the air-drawn dagger which you said led you to Duncan.’ (Act 3 scene 4 – page 85)

20. Unnatural happenings are a result of the disruption of the natural and the normal. Visions and hallucinations ‘The time has been that when the brains were out, the man would die, and there an end. But now they rise again with twenty mortal murders on their crowns and push us from our stools.’ (Act 3 scene 4 – page 85) Macbeth’s words here consolidate how unnatural the deeds he has committed are as their unnatural quality is reflected back to him in the vision of Banquo’s ghost.

21. Unnatural happenings are a result of the disruption of the natural and the normal. Loss of sleep Shakespeare chooses an idea we can all relate to, sleep and its importance in our lives, to emphasise how unnatural (and therefore disruptive) the acts of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are.

22. Unnatural happenings are a result of the disruption of the natural and the normal. Loss of sleep In Act 2 scene 1, Macbeth alludes to the lack of sleep that will follow his crime: ‘Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse the curtained sleep.’ (Page 41)

23. Unnatural happenings are a result of the disruption of the natural and the normal. Loss of sleep In Act 2 scene 2, following the murder, Macbeth hears a voice: ‘Sleep no more: Macbeth does murder sleep.’ (Page 45) He proceeds to describe sleep’s beneficial influence on humans ‘balm of hurt minds…’ and his statement that ‘the innocent sleep’ further consolidates the idea that he has lost this innocence and will suffer for his unnatural crime.

24. Unnatural happenings are a result of the disruption of the natural and the normal. Loss of sleep As the play develops, this motif is repeated: ‘sleep in the affliction of these terrible dreams that shake us nightly.’ (Act 3 scene 2 – page 75) Towards the end of Act 3 scene 4, after the vision of Banquo’s ghost has traumatised him, Lady Macbeth tells Macbeth ‘You lack the season of all natures, sleep.’ (Page 89) We are left in no doubt that the unnatural crime is manifested in unnatural behaviour.

25. Unnatural happenings are a result of the disruption of the natural and the normal. Loss of sleep Perhaps the most famous reference to the lack of sleep is in Act 5 scene 1. The doctor, observing Lady Macbeth, comments that her sleepwalking is ‘A great perturbation in nature.’ (Page 133) Once Lady Macbeth has disclosed her secrets and worries, he responds ‘unnatural deeds do breed unnatural troubles.’ (Page 135) Because Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have disrupted the natural order so significantly, they suffer the ultimate punishment.

26. Unnatural happenings are a result of the disruption of the natural and the normal. Other unnatural happenings Other characters describe the unnatural events that have followed the death of Duncan. Before the discovery of the body of Duncan, Lennox reports that ‘The night has been unruly’ (Act 2 scene 3 – page 51) and the Old Man tells Ross ‘Tis unnatural, even like the deed that’s done’ describing the way that nature has become chaotic: a ‘mousing owl’ killed a ‘falcon’ and Duncan’s ‘beauteous and swift’ horses ‘turned wild in nature’ and ate each other. (Act 2 scene 3 – page 59)

27. The supernatural is a malign presence in the mortal world and can influence and disrupt it. The witches The witches appear at different points in the play and consistently evoke a feeling of disruption and chaos. Act 1 scene 1: they plan the meeting with Macbeth. Act 1 scene 3: the tale of the cursing of the sailor creates a parallel with the fate that befalls Macbeth. Later in the scene they present Macbeth with the prophecies of his and Banquo’s fate. Act 3 scene 5: Hecate describes how ‘artifical sprites’ will create ‘illusion[s]’ which will create further ‘confusion’ for Macbeth. Act 4 scene 1: the apparitions appear, leading Macbeth to believe that he is secure.

28. The supernatural is a malign presence in the mortal world and can influence and disrupt it. The witches As the play draws to an end, Macbeth begins to realise that Banquo’s warning from earlier in the play ‘And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths; win us with honest trifles, to betray’s in deepest consequence’ (Act 1 scene 3 – page 15) seems to be true: ‘I…begin to doubt the equivocation of the fiend that lies like truth.’ (Act 5 scene 5 – page 147)

29. The supernatural is a malign presence in the mortal world and can influence and disrupt it. The witches Critics disagree on the actual influence the witches have over Macbeth: do they directly have power or do they merely offer suggestions on which Macbeth himself acts? Whatever your view, their presence in the play certainly disrupts the natural order.

30. So, in summary… Shakespeare discusses three key areas in the play: • The natural • The unnatural • The supernatural The audience are shown the catastrophic effects of disrupting the natural order, whether this is by supernatural or human intervention. In a time when England had recently experienced the potential disruption of treason (The Gunpowder Plot – 1605) the warning against going against nature is clear. The restoration of the natural way at the end of the play suggests that this is the way ahead.