hallucination, caused the pressure of Duncan’s homicide and the pressure placed on him by his manipulative and cunning wife, Lady Macbeth. The audience at the time will have been shocked by this as Jacobean society saw king’s as almost holy since they respected the divine right of kings. Furthermore, here, Shakespeare is displaying the power that the supernatural has over events in the play since Macbeth has been driven to insanity by a supernatural prophecy.

The banquet in Act 3 Scene 4 is a vital scene, since it is when we see either the impacts of homicide on Macbeth’s inner voice or the real ghost of Banquo. Macbeth claims to see Banquo’s apparition, but only him at the banquet can see the phenomenon. Banquo’s ghost appears as a reminder to the crime of regicide Macbeth committed and the guiltless blood, he had on his hands in order to gain his place. This scene is a turning point or climax in the play as Macbeth is extremely alarmed and loses his rational mindset. Others sharing the banquet with Macbeth start to become suspicious of him since he speaks out loud, saying, ‘Quit my sight! Let the earth hide thee! Thy bones are marrow less, thy blood is cold’. The appearance of Banquo’s ghost also keeps the audience’s attention at a maximum because Jacobean society were enthralled by the supernatural. Traditional Christian views concerning the afterlife are represented by the supernatural in “Macbeth”. The appearance of Banquo’s ghost illustrates a popular superstition that a person that has died a violent death, cannot rest in peace until the murderer is punished.

The use of the supernatural in Macbeth has been put to great use by Shakespeare in the storyline of the play. The supernatural events, which happen in the play, allow us to question which of the two cause the major events in the play to happen. Is it the supernatural powers and the captivating witches with their prophecies? Or is it Macbeth’s paranoia, neurosis and increasing insanity which leads him to believe hallucinations? To a Jacobean audience the first would have been believed as they believed they were real and devilish. To conclude, I believe Shakespeare suggest that supernatural powers have a major effect on the significant events of the play.