Witches, murder and ghosts are all key elements to Shakespeare's Macbeth. Although all of the supernatural does not have exactly the same role in the play, the main purposes of the supernatural are to attract the attention of the reader, to foreshadow future events and to show or manipulate the characteristics of an individual. In the play Macbeth, the supernatural occurs with the witches appearing throughout the story, the strange behavior of Macbeth after the murder of King Duncan, and the appearance of Banquo's ghost and imagination of the dagger which was floating in the air.
The story starts with the weird sister's conversation under strong thunder and lightning. First Witch says with a gruesome voice, "When shall we three meet again, in thunder, lightning, or in rain?" (I, i, 1-2) The very first scene is not only attractive, but also foreshadows that they will meet again and probably with Macbeth.
Lady Macbeth by George Cattermole.
English: Poster of Thos. W. Keene in William Shake...
The English actor Charles Kean as William Shakespe...The Witches were also able to manipulate Macbeth, "All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis./All hail Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor./ All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter." When Macbeth found out the he has become Thane of Cawdor, he started thinking about how the witches' prophecies were right and that the prophecy about him becoming King of Scotland might also be right. This convinced Macbeth that since his fate was to become king, they're might be ways to speed up the process. Through that quote the witches have succeeded in manipulating Macbeth's character and therefore turning him capable of killing King Duncan
After the prophecy had been revealed to Macbeth, he and Lady Macbeth start conspiring plans to gain power of the throne. For Macbeth the only way to gain that power was through the killing of Duncan. This was...