MACBETH WORD JOURNAL
“THE SUPERNATURAL”
ACT ONE
1.
a. Macbeth: “This supernatural soliciting / Cannot be ill, cannot be good. If ill, / Why
hath it given me earnest of success / Commencing in a truth?” (1.3. 143-146)
b. This ghostly request can’t be promising or unpromising. If it’s unpromising, why did it
guarantee my success?
c. In the preceding passage, Macbeth is contemplating the meaning of the Three Witches’
unsettling prophecy. While he is distraught over the exact meaning of the prophecy and what it
means for his future, he seems fairly certain that the witches are of supernatural origin, and
anything they say should be treated carefully.
2.
a. Lady Macbeth: “Hie thee hither, / That I may pour my spirits in thine ear / And
chastise with the valor of my tongue / All that impedes thee from the golden round, / Which fate
and metaphysical aid doth seem / To have thee crowned withal.” (1.5. 28-33)
b. Bring yourself here, so I can tell you all my secrets and punish you with my words for
everything that stops you from seizing the crown, which fate and spiritual help seem to
have given you.
c. In this passage, Lady Macbeth attacks her husband’s report of a supernatural prophecy
with a bitter irony. While the prophecy does seem to hold some intriguing stature,
Lady Macbeth nevertheless leaps at the opportunity to undermine her husband; “Oh
really, you had to wait until a trio of unkempt hags told you that you should be king
before you considered it? I’ve been at your ear since we got married about you
inheriting the crown!” she seems to say.
3.
a. Lady Macbeth: “Come, you spirits / That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, /
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full / Of direst cruelty.” (1.5 46-50)
b. Come to me, spirits that watch over normal people; make me a man and fill my body
with terrible cruelty.
c. Surprise, surprise, Lady Macbeth has started up again about her gender; how she gets
no respect, how she’s more ruthless than her husband, etc. But this passage offers a
new tone for the Lady Macbeth/Macbeth schism: jealousy. Jealousy for the fact that
Macbeth has been blessed with a supernatural curse that destines him for power. So
what does she get? Here, she practically implores the metaphysical world to grant her
one chance, one rite of passage to prove herself worthy....of being a cruel man.
ACT TWO
4.
a. Macbeth: “Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand?
Come, let me clutch / thee. / I have thee not, yet I see thee still. / 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-oppressèd brain? I see thee yet, in form as
palpable / As this which now I draw.”
a. Do my eyes deceive me? Is this a dagger floating in front of me, with its handle
reached toward my hand? Come here, let me grab you. I do not have you, but I still see
you. Can’t you, deadly apparition, be felt and seen? Or are you a hallucination created
by my churning mind? But I still see you as clearly as I see the dagger which I now
draw.
b. A great admirer of beating dead horses, Shakespeare carries this pastime over into his
literary work, particularly with his treatment of symbolism. Macbeth’s growing doubt
concerning the murder of Duncan has been strongly established in the past few scenes,
but he has nevertheless agreed to do it. Here, as he is preparing to enter Duncan’s
chamber and finish the deed. He takes one more moment to consider his situation.
While he is standing and pondering alone on stage (about eighty percent of the play, by
my calculations) his mind begins to hallucinate. A floating dagger appears in front of
his eyes, basked in an almost surreal ethereal beauty. Although Macbeth is not at all
convinced that the dagger actually exists, he still stares in wonder at its otherworldly
glow. It comforts him, whispers consolation in his ear, and he is swayed to commit the
murder. Was the dagger a product of the Witches’ magic, or a symbol of Macbeth’s
own desires and shortcomings? Most signs point to the latter.
Overview of Act One/Act Two:
The literal mentions of the words “supernatural,” “spirits,” “ghosts” and the like have
been sparse thus far in the play. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find a single passage in Act
Two that comes close to reiterating these terms. Nevertheless, the supernatural world has played
an undeniably significant role in this tragedy. After all, it was the otherworldly prophecy and the
subsequent hopes and doubts created by it that spurred the main conflicts of the play, from rocky
relationships to gender-swapping wish lists to murder. And since the three Witches seem to
always be an omnipresent force behind some mischievous happening, you can look forward to
some more literal utilization of the supernatural world within the next few acts. I certainly am.
ACT THREE
5.
a. Banquo: “If there come truth from them / (As upon thee, Macbeth, their speeches
shine) / Why, by the verities on thee made good, / May they not be my oracles as
well, / And set me up in hope?” (3.1 6-10)
b. If they speak the truth (which they seem to have done for Macbeth), why, by the good
acts they have done for you, can’t they be truth-tellers for me as well, and give me
hope?
c. This passage, a reflection of Banquo’s own desires, is taken from the very first line of
the third act, after Macbeth has been crowned king of Scotland. Banquo speaks of the
Three Witches, the hag-like catalysts of the play. Although he originally spoke ill of
them (even making a few snide comments about their beards), he now speaks tenderly,
wishing them to be his own oracles. What Banquo is really doing is submitting a
request for his own role in the prophecy to come true sooner rather than later. This
request will bring about interesting results.
6.
a. Macbeth: “He chid the sisters/ When first they put the name of king upon me / And
bade them speak to him. / Then, prophet-like, / They hailed him father to a line of
kings. / Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown / And put a barren scepter in my
grip, / Thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand, / No son of mine
succeeding.” (3.1 62-69)
b. “He chastised the witches when they first prophesied me to be king. But then, they
praised him to be the beginning of a line of kings. They gave me a meaningless
position, with any standing I have to be taken from a stranger, not a son of mine.”
c. This passage is taken after Banquo politely refuses to attend a dinner formally
celebrating the new rulers of Scotland, Mr. and Mrs. Macbeth. As Macbeth gazes upon
the footsteps of Banquo’s exit, a doubt grows in his idling mind. A doubt of Banquo’s
friendship, a doubt that his footsteps won’t be turning ‘round back to Scotland by the
end of the year. He houses his doubt in impeccable remembrance of the witches’
prophecy, thinking that the sisters gave Banquo more to hope for than Macbeth. After
all, a line of kings weighs more than a single king. Macbeth resolves to eliminate
Banquo and his kin as a threat. Little does he know, Banquo would attend the dinner
that night, albeit in a more cathartic form.
7.
a. Macbeth: “Ere the bat hath flown / His cloistered flight, ere to black Hecate’s
summons / The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums / Hath rung night’s yawning
peal, there shall be done / A deed of dreadful note.”
b. Now the bat has flown, his flight a summoning to the evil Hecate. The insignificant
beetle hums drowsily into the foreboding night. Something terrible will happen, I am
sure of it.
c. Macbeth cryptically admits to his wife that he plans to have Banquo killed, and
through inspired imagery, he hearkens back to the theme of the witches. Hecate,
goddess of witchcraft and mother all things haggish, has drawn the brooding blueprint
for the night’s events, and Macbeth is fearful of his position. Although he hopes he is
outsmarting the witches, he will never not be unsettled by the moan of the night, and
the idea that supernatural forces are throwing him past his boundaries.
8.
a. Lady Macbeth: “Are you a man?” Macbeth: “Ay, and a bold one, that dare look on
that / Which might appall the devil.” Lady Macbeth: “O, proper stuff! / This is the
very painting of your fear! / This is the air-drawn dagger which you said / Led you to
Duncan. O, these flaws and starts, / Impostors to true fear, would well become / A
woman’s story at a winter’s fire, / Authorized by her grandam. Shame itself!” (3.4
70-79)
b. “Are you a man?” “Yes, and a brave one, if I can look at something that could make
the devil cower.” “Oh, you’re full of crap! This is the definition of your fear! This is
just like that imaginary dagger that you said led you to Duncan. All these
hallucinations and visions aren’t real fear, they’re just campfire stories. You should be
ashamed of yourself!”
c. You have to give it to Lady Macbeth, she is never phased, not even when her hubby is
convinced he sees a zombified Banquo sitting in his empty chair. In this passage,
Macbeth’s vision of Banquo’s ghost is interrupting his royal dinner, and scaring the
wits out of him. His fears are realized: supernatural forces aren’t helping him, they’re
out to torment him. His head reels with questions; “Will this never cease? Will I
always be cursed by the deeds I’ve committed?” Lady Macbeth promptly rises from
her chair and tries to smack some sense into him, telling him that his realized fears are
nothing, they’re just grounded in hollow folklore. For extra embarrassment, she
compares the hallucination to his previous one: the floating dagger. Shakespeare
makes clear that the supernatural torment will only get worse for our beloved antihero.
9.
a. Macbeth: “What, what care I? If thou canst nod, speak too. / If charnel houses and our
graves must send / Those we bury back, our monuments / Shall be the maws of
kites.” (3.4 84-87)
b. “What do I care? If you can move, then speak. If graves and tombs send the dead back
to us, then their resting place should be in the stomachs of birds.”
c. Still referring to the ghost of Banquo, who won’t budge from Macbeth’s throne,
Macbeth begins to question the ideas of burial, reality, and the afterlife. The lines
between reality and insanity are being blurred before his eyes, and he is frightened
beyond belief.
10.
a. Macbeth: “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. This is more strange / Than such a murder
is.” (3.4 94-99)
b. “The time has passed when a man’s brains were out from his head, he would be dead.
But now the dead walk among us, dethroning us mortals from our rightful places. This
is more disturbing than murder.”
c. The ghost remains firmly glued to the throne, and Macbeth is growing tired of its
sorcery. He continues his lament over the loss of reason, of death, and of his mind.
11.
a. Macbeth: “Avaunt, and quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee. / Thy bones are
marrowless; they blood is cold; / Thou hast no speculation in those eyes / Which thou
dost glare with.” (3.4 113-116)
b. “Go away, get out of my sight! Your bones are hollow, and your blood is cold. You
have no doubt in the eyes you glare with.”
c. Banquo had been Macbeth’s friend for years, and he had never once displayed an
inkling of mistrust. Now, with the cold-blooded, marrowless shell of his friend sitting
in front of him, Macbeth realizes the implications of his acts. The murder of Banquo
was so profound, it was an act of supernatural magnitude. Macbeth is overcome with
guilt, and he only wishes that the unceasing, accusing stare of his friend’s ghost would
avert, and leave him to grieve for the man that he himself murdered.
12.
a. Macbeth: “What man dare, I dare. / Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear, / the
armed rhinoceros, or th’ Hycran tiger; / Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves /
Shall never tremble. Or be alive again / And dare me to desert with thy sword. / If
trembling I inhabit then, protest me / The baby girl. Hence horrible shadow! / Unreal
mock’ry, hence!” (3.4 121-129)
b. “What all men dare, I dare. I shall approach you as if you were a bear, a rhinocerous, a
tiger. Take any shape but your current, and my nerves will never shake. Or come back
to life and dare me to duel. If I tremble, then call me a little girl. Stop, horrible ghost!
Terrible ghoul, stop!”
c. Macbeth is at the end of his rope. This ghost has all but made Macbeth a ghost
himself, and he has had enough. He admits that there is no other sight in the world that
make him tremble more, and he pleads for any other alternative to this horrible sight.
13.
a. Macbeth: “I will tomorrow / (And betimes I will) to the Weïrd Sisters. / More shall
they speak, for now I am bent to know / By the worst means the worst. For mine own
good, / All causes shall give way.” (3.4 164-168)
b. “Tomorrow I will go the three witches. They will speak more, because now I must
know. For my own good, all reason must collapse.”
c. With the disappearance of the ghost, Macbeth is renewed with a new hunger for
power. In this case that power means safety. Macbeth refuses to be a victim of sorcery,
and he will do anything so as to relieve himself of the image of his dead friend. He
resolves to find the three witches, and have them tell him more of his fate. If he knows
what to fear, there is no way he could be outsmarted.
14.
a. Hecate: “Saucy and overbold, how did you dare / To trade and traffic with Macbeth /
In riddles and affairs of death, / And I, the mistress of your charms, / The close
contriver of all harms, / Was never called to bear my part / Or show the glory of our
art?” (3.5 3-9)
b. “How arrogant you must have been to torture Macbeth with riddles and fatal affairs.
And I, your leader and the mistress of all things unnatural, was never invited to
showcase the true glory of our art?”
c. Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, pays a visit to the Weïrd Sisters in regard to the
Macbeth situation. Upon arrival, she treats the witches to a lengthy monologue,
expressing her extreme disappointment that the witches didn’t invite her to the party.
While supernatural terms were thus mostly used in a derogatory sense, here, they are
used to boast Hecate’s abilities. Who knew an ancient goddess would have such an
ego?
15.
a. Hecate: “Great business must be wrought ere noon. / Upon the corner of the moon /
There hangs a vap’rous drop profound. / I’ll catch it ere it come to ground, / And that,
distilled by magic sleights, / Shall draw him on to his confusion. / He shall spurn fate,
scorn death, and bear / His hopes ‘bove wisdom, grace, and fear. / And you all know,
security / Is mortals’ chiefest enemy. / Hark! I am called. My little spirit, see, / Sits in a
foggy cloud and stays for me.” (3.5 22-35)
b. “Great measures are needed, soon. On the corner of the moon, there lies a great piece
of truth. I will catch it before it comes to earth, and that, with a little magical
assistance, shall bring about his fatal confusion. He will follow fate, renounce death,
and raise hope above rationality. And of course, security is the greatest enemy of the
foolish mortals. Ah, but I must go. My spirit awaits me in Heaven.”
c. In this passage, still taken from her larger speech, Hecate describes what the witches
must do to further poison the soul of Macbeth. She warns of a drop of truth that may
fall upon Macbeth’s head and rid him of his greed and avarice. Hecate, however, will
make quick work of that truth. Once again, the supernatural imagery is shown in a
much more positive, almost baroque light, making the world of the gods and the
goddesses a world of magic and stability. Judging by the behavior of one such as
Hecate, this isn’t likely to be a very faithful interpretation.
Overview of Act Three: In Act Three, the supernatural world is fully active within the fragmented
Scotland, a land torn apart by greed. This is the act where the most infamous examples of
supernatural intervention in the play are found, and more importantly, it marks another important
turning point for the Macbeth character. Just like the prophecy scene in Act One, the banquet
scene in Act Three is a paranormal event that changes Macbeth’s level of confidence and
increases the play’s moral confusion, a glass that will be constantly filled and emptied
throughout the rest of the play.
ACT FOUR
16.
a. Second Witch: “Cool it with a baboon’s blood. / Then the charm is firm and
good.” (4.1 37-38)
b. “Cool the mixture with blood from a baboon. Now, the spell is finished.”
c. After Hecate’s first appearance, the witches resolve to create a concoction sure to fill
Macbeth with the fatal hope the goddess mentioned before. They concoct an evil spell
within a bubbling cauldron, constructed of disgusting animal parts. When the
sorcerous concoction is finished, topped with a baboon’s blood (the least disgusting
ingredient), the witches refer to it as a “charm.” That’s a pretty harmless term to
describe a festering puddle of blood and tiger entrails. But hey, at least the witches
love what they do.
17.
a. Hecate: “O, well done! I commend your pains, / and everyone share i’ th’ gains. / And
now about the cauldron sing / Like elves and fairies in a ring, / Enchanting all that you
put in.” (4.1 39-43)
b. “Well done, girls! I appreciate your time, and everyone will share in its benefit. Now,
go about the cauldron and sing with the youth of elves and fairies, enchanting
everything that you put inside the cauldron.”
c. Hecate pays the witches another visit (this one much more welcome) after they had
finished cooking their “charm.” She rejoices, telling them that everyone will benefit
from this lovely spell. The truth behind that statement could not be more hollow or
subjective; Macbeth certainly won’t be benefit, and neither will his wife, or Macduff
and his wife. Finally, Hecate tells her little haglings to dance and sing about like the
cauldron “like elves and fairies in a ring.” They sure had their ways about beauty,
those witches, but to describe the bearded and warted women as elves or fairies meant
Hecate was being especially nice about her imagery.
18.
a. Macbeth: “Tell me, thou unknown power–” First Witch: “He knows thy / thought. /
Hear his speech but say thou not.” (4.1 77-80)
b. “Tell me, unknown being...” “He knows what you are thinking, Macbeth. Listen to
him, and don’t say a word.”
c. In this passage, Macbeth had finally found the witches, and the witches put their long
prepared plan into action, bringing forth dreadful apparitions to give ominous clues to
Macbeth regarding his final demise. After the first apparition, Macbeth tries to speak
to it (a bit caught up still in his newfound authority). A witch immediately silences
him, telling Macbeth that the apparition had authority in this situation. Mostly because
of the witch’s firm warning, Macbeth decides to keep his mouth shut. Once again, the
supernatural wording has returned to describing haunting, macabre images.
19.
a. Macbeth: “Thou art too like the spirit of Banquo. Down! / Thy crown does sear mine
eyballs. And thy hair, / Thou other gold-bound brow, is like the first. / A third is like
the former. –Filthy hags, / Why do you show me this?– A fourth? Start, eyes! / What,
will the line stretch out to th’ crack of doom? / Another yet? A seventh? I’ll see no
more. / And the eigth appears who bears a glass / Which shows me many more, and
some I see / That twofold balls and treble scepters carry. / Horrible sight! Now I see
‘tis true, / For the blood-boltered Banquo smiles upon me / And points at them for
his.” (4.1 127-139)
b. “You look far too much like Banquo’s ghost. Get away! I can’t stand the sight of your
crown! And your hair, laced with gold, is the like the first one, and the third is like the
one before it. Cruel witches, why do you show me this? A fourth? My god, will the
line stretch out for eternity? Another one? A seventh? I cannot bear to look. It seems as
if the eighth has a mirror that shows me many more, carrying the scepters of my own.
This is horrible! But I know it is true, because the blood-spotted Banquo smiles at
them as if they were his own.”
c. Another series of apparitions is brought before Macbeth by the witches, this time in
the form of an endless line of kings, all resemblant of Banquo’s son, Fleance. With
this, Macbeth’s very fears are showcased upon the stage in a grandiose procession of
king after king after king. Even the ghost of Banquo returns, pointing hauntingly at his
kin, proclaiming them for his. Macbeth’s monologue describes the action, and within it
he casts several accusing tones at the witches. “Why do you show me this? Show me
no more!” etc. The witches have finally succeeded in striking the final chord of fear
into Macbeth, all thanks to otherworldly tidings.
20.
a. Macbeth: “Where are they? Gone? Let this pernicious hour / Stand aye accursèd in
the calendar!” (4.1 149-150)
b. “Where did they go? Are they gone? Let this wicked hour be cursed forever!”
c. When the witches had completed their duty of turning Macbeth into a whimpering
shell of a man, they quickly dissolve into the night, no different then the exit of their
own apparitions. Macbeth stands dumbfounded, alone again, only this time with a
crippling fear of armored heads and aborted babies. Only the day before, Macbeth
yearned to see the witches, to seek closure from his own prophecy. Now, he is left
worse off than before, and he curses the witches malevolence and his own pride.
21.
a. Macbeth: “Saw you the Weïrd Sisters?” Lennox: “No, my lord.” Macbeth: “Came
they not by you?” Lennox: “No indeed, my lord.” Macbeth: “Infected be the air
wheron they ride, / And damned all those that trust them!” (4.1 153-158)
b. “Did you see the witches?” “No, my lord.” “Didn’t they walk by you?” “Certainly not,
my lord.” “They exist upon an otherworldly, foul plane. Cursed be those that trust
them!”
c. As Lennox brings new tidings to Macbeth, who is still in shock from his encounter
with the witches, Macbeth brings new tidings to Lennox. Apparently, there are three
witches roaming about the castle. This revelation has less of an effect than Macbeth
hopes. Lennox quietly takes this as another rung down Macbeth’s ladder of sanity.
Macbeth, angered by the cruelty of the supernatural beings, curses them and all who
trust them. Shakespeare makes it clear that Macbeth will treasure the information he
has from them, but will not call upon them ever again.
Overview of Act Four: The paranormal happenings of Act Four are nearly exclusively at the
forefront, with Macbeth paying a second visit to the witches, and him being told what to fear and
what not to fear. This marks the final major appearance by the witches, and it sets the tone for the
rest of the act, which mostly involves Macbeth destroying everything that poses a threat. In short,
Act Four continues upon the themes of confusion and mistrust all thanks to the work of the
witches, whose prophetic words drive Macbeth to near insanity.
ACT FIVE
22.
a. Macbeth: “I ‘gin to be aweary of the sun / And wish th’ estate o’ th’ world were now /
undone.” (5.5 55-57)
b. “I am weary of the sun, and I wish the laws of reality were no more.”
c. In the fatally realistic Act Five, when Malcolm and Macduff invade Scotland in order
to liberate it from Macbeth, there is next to no supernatural activity or influence. But
as Macbeth stands alone in his castle, with opposing forces quickly approaching, he
wishes that the universe would not be so cruel. He is actually wishing for more
intervention by the witches. Tired of the finality of reality, Macbeth wishes to be cast
out into the unpredictable realm of sorcery and spells once more. But his calls are
never answered, and Macbeth must face Malcolm and Macduff within the walls of
reality.
23.
a. Macduff: “Tyrant, show thy face! / If thou beest slain, and with no stroke of mine, /
My wife and children’s ghosts will haunt me still.” (5.7 19-21)
b. “Show yourself, you tormentor! If you are dead, and I haven’t killed you, the ghosts of
my family will forever haunt me.”
c. Macduff bounds across the stage, sword in hand, ready to avenge. His army has
reached Macbeth’s castle, and Macduff is ready to kill Macbeth once and for all. Here,
when Macduff is alone on stage, he reveals his true motives behind wanting to slay
Macbeth. He does not want to just make Malcolm king, rather, he wants to cast away
the ghosts of his family that have been haunting him relentlessly. It seems that
Macduff has been cursed in way similar to Macbeth, but unlike Macbeth, Macduff can
avenge his family and rid himself of their painful presence.
24.
a. Macbeth: “Let fall thy blade on vunerable crests; / I bear a charmed life, which must
not yield / To one of woman born.” (5.8 14-16)
b. “Let yourself kill something that can be killed. I lived a charmed life, one that cannot
be ended by one of woman born.”
c. Macbeth finally reveals himself to Macduff, confident in the fact that no common man
could kill him. The witches’ apparition assured Macbeth that no man of woman born
could take his life. So, he calls Macduff a hopeless soul, a man unable to do harm to
one like Macbeth, for he has a “charmed life.” This is a definite callback to Hecate and
the witches’ own use of the word “charmed” to describe much more evil things.
Macbeth does not believe he is cursed; he thinks that the matters of death revealed to
him are a blessing that makes up for the ghost of Banquo and the death of his wife. At
this point, Macbeth is a jaded, caged animal, blinded to all needs but one; survival.
Overview of Act Five: Since the play’s final act is when all of the witches’ prophecies come true
in unexpected ways, it is appropriate that the witches themselves, nay, the supernatural world
itself, does not play a role. The absence of supernormality when faced with ever-growing reality
makes Act Five effective. When Scotland is in its darkest hour, and when Macbeth needs the
most guidance, Lady Macbeth suddenly dies and the witches are nowhere to be found. He is
forced to face his greatest fears alone, and in the end, die alone; Macbeth was nothing but a
puppet to the otherworldly puppeteers that controlled his destiny.