Supernatural Essay Plan Flashcards
Thesis statements
• overtly = witchcraft/supernatural are used by Shakespeare as trials against Christian heroism to highlight the moral decline of heroism at the hands of Paganism
• women (due to the prevalence of Christianity and therefore the original sin) are framed as satanic perpetuators of evil
• however, I would argue the Shakespeare covertly implies the supernatural is a construct exploited as a resource by Macbeth to pursue his personal ambition against the gradient of God’s Divine Order. Shakespeare warns of the consequences of denying one’s predestined ordination through M’s moral decline
Paragraph 2 - Act 1, Scene 3 - ‘seeds of time’ ‘speak then to me’ ‘restrain me’
• ‘seeds of time’ = metaphor for the power of prophecy the witches have (Jacobean audience would believe in this)
• ‘speak then to me’ - imperative of speak - Banquo actively engages in supernatural through the Pagan power of invocation
• however - Act 2 Scene 1, ‘restrain me’ imperative directed to God - reinforces free will when he controls his own fate and in return experiences moral salvation from God, does not commit regicide
Paragraph 3 - Lady Macbeth as a fourth witch
‘dearest partner in greatness’ - noun implies Lady Macbeth can achieve in society, however this is not true because she is a woman.
‘Take my milk for gall’ - invoking ‘spirits’ to swap her some Christian purpose ordained by God for poison (symbolic of witchcraft) - Macbeth’s manipulation of her to begin the process of plotting regicide, means he creates his own fourth witch to pursue his evil ambition
• Shakespeare challenges M’s integrity at the hands of pagan ambition
• exploits her as a source of evil, she becomes portrayed as the perpetrator
• Act 5 Scene 9 - ‘his fiend-like Queen’ - adjective and possessive pronoun reinforce LM has become a possession of M which he demonised to meet his own ends
Paragraph 4 - Act 2, Scene 1 ‘Tarquin’s ravishing strides’
• graphic historical allusion = Roman King who murdered his kin
•classical reference - shows Macbeth’s rejection of religious heroism, only worships evil forces
• graphic imagery conveys moral decline
‘heaven or hell’
• equivocation reinforces M’s abandonment of God, because these are equal opportunities since he believes in neither of them. Foreshadows his lack of regard for consequences which will find him
Paragraph 5 - Act 4, Scene 1 - ‘secret, black and midnight hags’
• ‘black’ is a motif - all murders/acts of plotting evil are required to be in darkness so God would not see
• Macbeth now craves this and seeks it out - free will has led him from God, however relies on the cover of night to relieve himself of the moral torment of his own mind
• ‘hags’ - noun is a dehumanising term for women, literary wide allusion used by contemporary and modern audiences
• although Shakespeare appears to be feminising evil, this is juxtaposed by ‘we’ll answer’
• verb reinforces they only respond to M’s demands, while M chooses to frame them for evil
•‘Shakespeare reinforces evil is a choice and act against God for personal gain- Christianity which prove sinners guilty
Paragraph 6 - Act 1, Scene 2 - ‘fixed his head’
• ‘head’ is a motif of M’s declining heroism
• moral peak as he beheads the King’s (therefore God’s) enemy, however when he is tested and commits regicide he loses as virtues
• ‘head’ - foreshadows M’s tragic disgrace in Act 5 Scene 9, when he is killed
• Shakespeare uses to highlight severe moral consequences of utilising evil for personal ambition - M’s head will later be described as ‘the usurper’s cursed head ‘ - summarises fate as a result of declining heroism
