The Supernatural in Hamlet and Macbeth Essay -- GCSE English Literatur

The Supernatural in small town and Macbeth In both Hamlet and Macbeth, the supernatural carrys a very important role. Supernatural elements are crucial to the plot and they also have a more thematic part as well. Shakespeare presents the ghost in Hamlet, and the witches and ghost in Macbeth, as disrupting elements that not only enhance drama, but also tear apart the existing order of things. They force the title character of each play to undergo their own internal struggle that grows from their insecurity of living up to the image of a man. First, let us consider Hamlet. The presence of the supernatural takes sum stage at the beginning with a dramatic appearance of the ghost of Hamlets father. Although the ghost does not speak, his presence is seen and already disrupts. It is in later in this freshman act where the ghost plays its first and most crucial part. In Scene V of act I, Hamlet and his fathers Ghost appear together and alone. The ghost says, A serpent stung me, s o the whole ear of Denmark/Is by a forged process of my death/Rankly abusd(I.v.36-38). The first seed of disrupting things (both Hamlets identity and Denmark) is planted here. The ghosts delivery make it clear that his murder was not only a crime against him, but also a crime against the land. The core of the play then unfolds from the actions and haggling of this ghost. Hamlets revenge against his uncle is certainly fueled by the ghosts words, but the ghost seems to serve a more subtle and internal part here. In the famous To be or not to be soliloquy (III.i.55-88), Hamlet makes it clear his is not only unsure of what action to take, but unsure of himself as well. It seems his fathers aberration confuses Hamlet ... ...e serves as ghosts in the machine of the characters life. And it is that which really kills them or drives them to their death in the end. Works Cited and Consulted Bloom, Harold. Introduction. Modern Critical Interpretations Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New Yor k City Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. 1-10. Bradley, A.C. The Witch Scenes in Macbeth. England in Literature. Ed. John Pfordesher, Gladys V. Veidemanis, and Helen McDonnell. Illinois Scott, Foresman, 1989. 232-233 Goldman, Michael. Critical Essays on Shakespeares Hamlet. Ed. David Scott Kaston. New York City Prentice Hall International. 1995. The Riverside Shakespeare Second Edition Houghtom Mifflin Company Boston/New York G. Blakemore Evans and J.J.M Tobin eds. Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. redact by Norman Sanders. Cambridge Cambridge University Press, 1984