The Supernatural Flashcards
Techniques used to present the witches - Supernatural
thunder and lightening in stage directions used as a source of power and energy, but also unnerves the audience/shocks them. Pathetic fallacy
Troachaic tetrameter used to create a chant-like rhythm “when shall we three meet again?” - they are the only characters who talk this way, which distinguishes them from the others and shows the audience they will be serving a different role than most other characters
“fair is foul and foul is fair” - witches know more than they are letting on - connection to a higher power?
“hover through fog and filthy air” - pathetic fallacy to show secrecy/obscurity/concealment
Lady Macbeth - Supernatural
1.5 supernatural influence corrupts M through LM - as well as through the witches in 1.3
“that i may pour my spirits into thine ear” - speak evil things, bestow upon him the corruption that she had welcomed in herself.
“come, you spirits” “unsex me here” “stop up th’access and passage to remorse” - needs the spirits help to become her most powerful self - merciless femme fatale. The spirits are shown to corrupt her here too.
The supernatural is a driving force in murders and it controls the characters desires and actions
“my keen knife” - LM will use M just as the spirits have used her
Disruption of nature - Supernatural
2.3 Regicide (D murdered, god’s chosen servant usurped) leads to strange and disturbing natural phenomena. “strange screams of death” “the earth was feverous and did shake” M disrupted the natural order by killing D and as a result the whole country is suffering.
a falcon “Was by a mousing owl
hawk’d at and killed” - mirrors D’s death as a falcon (D), which is above an owl (M) in the natural hierarchy was killed by something as small/seemingly insignificant as an owl.
Divine punishment - but not only for M, his selfish acts have caused harm to the whole country.
Macbeth’s guilt - Supernatural
1.7”dagger of the mind” with its “handle towards my hand” - shows how M’s free will is being removed and something, mental or otherworldly, is forcing him to commit this murder - influence of the witches. These forces have taken over M’s life and now cannot be stopped. Free will is a natural part of being so having that removed without even knowing it is disturbing. Wonders whether he will do it - knows he will feel bad about it but for some inexplicable reason he still goes through with the murder.
3.4 B at the banquet as a manifestation of M’s guilt. This is affecting all aspects of M’s life now, and is making him an even worse, more frenzied king. B’s murder was a disruption of how things should be so M is being punished “blanched with fear” “never shake thy gory locks at me” - this could be a punishment from the supernatural world.
Role of the witches in tragedy - Supernatural
M’s moment of anagnorisis in 5.8 when he calls the witches “juggling fiends” - realises these supernatural beings (“weird sisters”) are evil and have plotted to ruin his life. Catalyst for his downfall.
“palter with us in a double sense”
“none of woman born shall harm macbeth” - intentionally fooling him with malicious intentions
The play started with the witches and their plan and ended with their plan being thwarted to some extent as scotland returned to peace - however M died a paranoid, fruitless king and they got what they wanted - supernatural forces are impossible to stop/it is impossible to leave their grasps as the supernatural is the driving force for the whole play - something nobody even knows as LM, M and B have died and they are the only ones who see/interact with the witches/the supernatural.
Cautionary tale to a shakespearean audience as they were scared of witches and believed in the supernatural - how people have been corrupted and controlled against their wills
