Supernatural in Macbeth Flashcards
FIRST WITCH:
When shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain?
SECOND WITCH:
When the hurly-burly’s done, when the battle’s lost and won (1.1)
The witches meet at the beginning of the play to discuss their future meeting with Macbeth. Here Shakespeare uses the motif of weather to foreshadow future events. The thunder and lightning suggest that there will an upset in the order when they meet with Macbeth. The “hurly-burly” is also suggestive of revolt and chaos that Scotland will soon face.
Hie thee hither, that I may pour my spirits in thine ear; and chastise with the valour of my tongue all that impedes thee from the golden round, which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem to have thee crown’d withal. (1.5)
In her soliloquy Lady Macbeth bids her husband to hurry home so that she can set in motion her plan to spur him to usurp the crown. She uses the metaphor “pour my spirits in thine ear” to describe how she will whisper words of evil and transfer her spirit into Macbeth, as if to possess him. She will use the courage of her woman’s tongue to rid him of everything that holds him back from the crown. Here we are seeing Lady Macbeth aligned with the Witches as the Fourth Witch. In a nod to the weird sisters she says that Macbeth has already been crowned by “metaphysical aid” and “fate.” Now that she views herself as future queen, she will stop at nothing to achieve her goal.
Witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate’s offerings, and wither’d murder (2.1)
This quote from Macbeth’s soliloquy shows how much a once well-regarded warrior with a moral conscience has been corrupted by the influence of the Witches. Aligning himself with the supernatural, he believes that the murder of Duncan is like an offering to Hecate. Hecate is the ancient Greek goddess of magic, witchcraft, the moon and the night. Witches were said to have gathered in the woods at night to offer sacrifices to Hecate.
Thou canst not say I did it; never shake
Thy gory locks at me (3.4)
A horrified and unnerved Macbeth speaks to the ghost of Banquo that he sees sitting in his seat at the coronation banquet. The bloody apparition, visible to no one else, is a hallucination of Macbeth’s mind and a sign of his guilt and growing mental instability brought on by the murders of Duncan and Banquo. He tells the ghost that no one can say he murdered Banquo. He seems to deceive himself into believing that since he didn’t carry out the deed but only ordered it he is somehow innocent. The ghost’s “gory locks” is a reference to the twenty gashes to Banquo’s head delivered by his murderer. Macbeth is losing his mind at this point.
I bear a charmed life, which must not yield, To one of woman born (5.8)
Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 8. As Macbeth and Macduff begin to fight, Macbeth shouts out: “I bear a charmed life, which must not yield, To one of woman born.” He still believes in the Witches prophecies and that he has supernatural protection from harm by anyone “of woman born.”
