Magic has a dominant affect on Shakespeare’s Macbeth. This dark, eerie play becomes tragic when the supernatural is introduced. Untraditional in Shakespeare’s work, magic sets the tone in this tell tale of prophecy, ambition, and betrayal. Hallucinations, spells, witches, and prophecy, all associated with a dark higher power, affect the outcome of Macbeth when he tries to outsmart the powerful in his ruthless aspirations to attain power and immortality. Because Macbeth recklessly associates with the supernatural, his life takes a turn for the worse as he gambles with it to his ultimate downfall.
The witches bring a new unheard of quality to Shakespeare’s play. Not only does Macbeth meddle with their foretelling but he tries to order them to tell him his future in order to manipulate it as if he has power over them and his destiny. In act I, he doesn’t question their prophecy, but aspires to its fulfillment and later in Act II and III he begins to see the consequences of his role in it. In Act IV, the scene begins with the cauldron, the witches filling it with parts of animals and nothing that is ever whole. These parts could signify brokenness, separation, an unsettled table of events. These supernatural plays a huge role in the foreshadowing of the play from the darkness, to the blood, to the three apparitions. The spell in Act IV scene I, the most magical scene of the play, creates a dark mysteriousness for the events to come. Because these unexpected charms are unsettling and uneasy to make out, there is a certain sense of fear associated with them.
Macbeth tries to manipulate the prophecy and improve his outcome by meddling in supernatural charms. However, gambling with magic and other’s lives still proves fatal. The unknown evils in magic that he chooses to buy into, works against him. Macbeth cannot outrun his fate or continue with his own selfish gains by outsmarting the more powerful supernatural. He believes his life to be charmed, but doesn’t focus on what the apparitions tell him to beware of. The meaninglessness in the magic such as the caution of trees and something not born of woman proves so detrimental to the outcome of the play and implores more meaning that Macbeth needs in order to secure his reign. “Accursed be that tongue that tells me so, For it hath cow’d my better part of man: And be these juggling fiends no more believe’d, that palter with us in double sense….”
Magic which is viewed as the dark evil could not be overpowered for Macbeth’s own benefit but only used for more darkness. All in all, without magic, the intensity of the plot would not be possible and neither would a lot of the events that take place.
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I agree, without the magical elements in Macbeth there would not be a story. If it were not for the prophecy at the beginning of the play, none of the important events would have taken place. As I read Macbeth it reminded me a lot of the television show, That's So Raven. For those of you who have seen the show you will agree, the trouble only starts after Raven sees into the future and tries to meddle with it. In the same way the trouble in Macbeth only starts after Macbeth is told a prophecy, without which, there would be no trouble and everyone would have lived, perhaps, happily ever after.
ReplyDeleteMacbeth’s entire plot is driven by magic. Magic is what first leads Macbeth to his prophecy and finally to his death. Although his actions are not justified, Macbeth acts as any human would with the power to “see” the future. He makes his decisions to kill all those in his way because he is inpatient and just wants to live out his crowned destiny. His person is completely transformed throughout the play and he eventually becomes his own worst enemy. Because he finds so much out in this supernatural way, he drives himself mad and paranoid because he already knows what to look for, for his defeat. It is because of this fear and paranoia that he kills Banquo and Macduff’s family and eventually it is the reason he is killed (due to his evil actions). Without magic and what it brings to the characters of the play (knowledge), Macbeth would not be possible.
ReplyDeleteMagic is an extremely important element throughout the whole play. Witches predicted what would happen to Macbeth, followed by what really happened that perfectly matched the prediction. No matter Macbeth believes it or not, no matter how much efforts he has paid in order to change some of the prediction, he can not twist his fate. It is miraculous that all the witches told the truth to Macbeth. If he were not so ambitious and proud, he could have known that what the witches said was alert instead of compliments. He relied too much on the magic and ignored the further information of the prediction. Sometimes Macbeth even forgot that he was a human and he did not have the supernatural ability. So finally it is a sad ending. But Macbeth can not blame the witches. It is himself, not the magic, who cause the tragedy.
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ReplyDeleteAlthough magic unquestionably played a significant role in Macbeth, there were other grounds for Macbeth’s demise. In addition to his lack of willpower, his response to the prophecy was his downfall. If Macbeth ignored the words of the witches and his wife, a number of occurrences in the play could have been avoided. If Macbeth found out about the omen from the witches and did not react so rashly to it by killing Duncan, perhaps he still would have gained the same title in a different manner. Despite the fact that the witches use apparitions to tell Macbeth what would happen in the future, the actual occurrences are not magical. In Act IV, scene i, the three apparitions that appear as an armored head, a bloody child, and a crowned child with a tree in his hand predict his future. The bloody child tells Macbeth that no one, who is born from a woman, will ever harm him. From this forecast, Macbeth assumed that only a supernatural being could hurt him. However, Macduff was, in fact, human. Afterward, the crowned child tells Macbeth that he will not be defeated until Birnam Wood marches to Dunsinane Hill to fight him. The statement of the third apparition should not have been taken literally to suggest that the forest would actually move on its own, but rather Malcolm and the soldiers would march with the branches of the trees in Birnam Wood until they reached Dunsinane Hill. The cause of Macbeth’s demise was not merely the words that were said to him, but how Macbeth interpreted and reacted to those words.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all that has been said, how the magical aspect is what led to his demise. However I believe that if it were not for his wife's and his own ambition and character the prohpecy and witches would not have had a bigger part. It is not just the witches who are responsible for his downfall, but it is his fault as well. If he had not been so agressive, power hungry and ruthless the knoweldge of the future would not have had such an impact.
ReplyDeleteIs anyone else able to see that the witches could have been regular people that simply manipulated Macbeth into doing all of these things? What if they were not 'real' witches? I understand there are some cicumstances like the prediction of the trees, and such, that lead us to believe and confide in Shakespeare about the witches having magical powers, but I truely wonder if they simply had Macbeth wrapped around their fingers. Mind the fact that Macbeth did not try to question their predictions at all during the play. He simply took the witches words and acted upon them.
ReplyDeleteIt is clear that the play circulates around the idea of magic, perhaps when Shakespeare wrote the play, he believed in the supernatural. The play began with three witches, and their prophecies. Macbeth strongly believed in their predictions and this generated the entire play. Without their prophecies who knows whether Macbeth would have acted the same. He had so much faith in the witches that he thought he was invincible by any man of woman born. The foretelling drove Macbeth to immense greed for power, his selfish and heartless deeds and eventually to his death. Without the interference of magic, the play just may not have been the same.
ReplyDeleteMagic plays a huge part in Macbeth, especially in the form of prophecy by the witches. What I don't understand is why Macbeth chooses to listen to some of the prophecies and not others. In the first prophecy he ever hears from the witches, Macbeth learns that he will be king, but that Banquo's sons will also be king. However, he chooses to ignore the latter part of the prophecy and blindly jump into a plot to kill the king. Similar things happen with later prophecies: Macbeth pays attention to the good parts and ignores the rest. Yes, magic may have set the events of the play in motion, but it is ultimately Macbeth's ignorance that leads to his downfall.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting how you commented that Macbeth tries to command the witches in Act IV. An interesting dynamic to this is Hecate's apparent response. Though she scolds the witches after their prophecy in Act I, she apparently doesn't disapprove of this, though Macbeth thinks he can command them. After these visions, he calls to them, demanding they return, that they explain themselves, even that they predict a different future. The witches, however, do not retreat. They see they have control over Macbeth, as a substance has control over an addict, or a casino over a gambler. Indeed, Macbeth appears to share many qualities with a gambler. Not liking what he's presented with, he calls for them to come back. "Wait! Just one more time! I can win it back! Just one more game!"
ReplyDeleteEverything that Macbeth does is because of magic. The witches tell him the prophecies, which of course make it seem like he is invincible. Macbeth is ignorant about the magic though, he doesn't think properly about it, he's just really stupid about the whole thing, a classic male. So yes I agree that magic was his downfall, but if he had just thought about it a little then he would have been fine.
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Everyones comments are great but I agree with Dani. The withches played an important role but it wasnt't their prophecies that made the story it was Macbeths actions. Not to be religious, but prophets around the world go telling people things everyday but it is not up to us to preform these acts out of our own will but to wait and let God allow them to happen. When you try to create your own destiny it usually doesnt work out because you only see the now and not how it will effect the future, which is what happen to Macbeth. He only saw that if he killed the King, it would place him in line to be king. He didnt think of the long line of disaster that would come with it. Also, Macbeth didnt truely listen to what the witches told him. He only took what he wanted to hear which is what alot of society does today. At his last encounter with the witches they told him to fear Macduff, not his family. So killing his family didnt benefit him any. He was so sure that He was not going to be killed since the withches said none of women born but he did not take into consideration the rest of their message.
ReplyDeleteMagic plays a major role in the sequence of events and characters beliefs in Macbeth. The ways in which the witches manipulated Macbeth could parallel to society today. Macbeth believed these things to be true because he saw them evidenced. Society today shapes and molds many theories and beliefs that eventually become mainstream and people try and make true. Macbeth believed in the ideas and "wisdom" that the witches had and therefore he created his own ladder in which he slowly desended upoj until his death. I believe we can see a deeper meaning in this particular portion of the play and try to understand that all is never what it seems and to be careful in who we trust and hold true.
ReplyDeleteThe role that magic plays in Macbeth causes a great deal of confusion to the characters in Macbeth. Macbeth, himself, has a couple of run-ins with magic not going the way he planned. I agree that he does not pay enough attention to the full prediction, only the parts that benefit him. I think that the magic that surrounds Macbeth causes the most damage in the play, which ultimately results in many unnecessary deaths.
ReplyDeleteI think that magic definatley plays a vitol role in the play. The witches are a great example of that, Macbeth seems to somewhat depend on the witches and magic to tell him what will happen in the future and if it's threatening him from obtaining the thrown he will stop at nothing to prevent it. I think macbeth feels as if he has more power because of the encounters with magic and prophecy.
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