Supernatural Role of Supernatural in Term Paper

Hamlet is scared by the sudden appearance and thus cries out: "Angels and ministers of grace defend us! / Be thou a spirit of health or a goblin damned, / bring with thee airs from heaven or blasts from hell/... thou com'st in such a questionable shape / that I will speak with thee" (1.4.20-25).

Hamlet gradually gains strength in his belief that divine justice had somehow been invoked and the ghost had appeared to guide everyone to justice. However this is one conclusion that we may draw from the play. There can be some others as well that might not be so positive in nature. Was the ghost actually Hamlet's father's? even if it was, was Hamlet really just in seeking revenge? If he were, then was his modus operandi correct? These questions result from close study of the events the followed the appearance of this specter. Even though it is true that ghost was correct in indicating foul play, but divine justice somehow seems lopsided because in the process of exacting revenge, nearly everyone died in the play. It should have been just the uncle and possibly Hamlet's mother who should have died but the death of many other characters make us ponder the evil tendencies of supernatural forces.

Macbeth's supernatural friends have an equally devastating effect on the main character's life. The three witches, though limited in their powers, caused major crisis when they foretell Macbeth's future. Here it must be made clear that just like Hamlet's father, the three witches did not want anything evil. They foretold the future because they saw something good for Macbeth. It was Macbeth who destroyed everything in his haste to see the future sooner than it was meant to unfold. Everything has a time at which it unfolds and Macbeth failed to exhibit the required amount of patience. Instead he simply allowed himself to be led astray in his ambition to become the next king.

Whitmore discusses the supernatural in Macbeth in these words: "The tragedy of Macbeth thus lies in the attempt of a mortal to control the baleful powers to which he has yielded himself, and in the irony with which they turn their own promises to his undoing.This central idea is presented in a way, which brings out the fearful strain under which the protagonists labor. The tense, close-packed lines give us a marvelous sense of that strain, a sense that culminates in Lady Macbeth's words

These deeds must not be thought

After these ways; so, it will make us mad." (p. 259)

In both plays, it has been confirmed that ghosts or supernatural elements were not a figment of anyone's imagination. Their presence is confirmed by more than one character, which lends credibility to their existence. In Macbeth for example, Banquo confirms the existence of witches while in Hamlet, Horatio sees the ghost even before Hamlet does.

However the critics may have studied the role of supernatural, I cannot see any real attempt on part of the author to push the characters towards a predetermined life. As much influence as the supernatural forces may have exerted, it is also quite clear that the purpose was not to strip the characters of the power of autonomy. They were only shown another way and the choice was still theirs. But they chose to go the wrong way and that too of their own free will. Thus to say that supernatural forces pushed them in any one direction would be wrong. The characters were quite autonomous in their actions.

We can thus say that role of supernatural forces in Hamlet and Macbeth is to exploit the weaknesses of main characters. They serve as catalysts to the plot and carry the story forward but on the whole they are neither immensely powerful nor dangerous. Their impact is evil as their presence spells doom and destruction but they do not interfere directly and neither do they intend to. They simply play with character's weaknesses and that leads to destruction by default.

References

Hamlet." "Macbeth" the Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt, Walter Cohen, Jean E. Howard, Katharine Eisaman Maus. New York: Norton, 1997.

Charles….....