the supernatural

Fair is foul, and foul is fair / Hover through the fog and filthy air.

Act 1 Scene 1 - This establishes the moral ambiguity and the "topsy-turvy" nature of the supernatural world

Look not like inhabitants o’ the earth

Act 1 Scene 3 - Banquo immediately ‘others’ the witches and categories them as beyond the natural world

Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more

Act 1 Scene 3 - Macbeth acknowledges that the witches are an ‘other’ but insists on knowing more

The instruments of darkness tell us truths, / Win us with honest trifles, to betray's / In deepest consequence

Act 1 Scene 3 - Banquo’s warning that supernatural forces often lead humans to destruction

Come, you spirits…

Act 1 Scene 5 - Lady Macbeth invites demonic possession to strip away her feminine "remorse"

Come, thick night, / And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell.

Act 1 Scene 5 - She calls for a supernatural darkness to hide their deeds from Heaven

That I may pour my spirits in thine ear

Act 1 Scene 5 - Lady Macbeth ‘s ‘supernatural’ nature is referenced here when intending to manipulate her husband

Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee

Act 2 Scene 1 - It is unclear if the dagger is a "fatal vision" sent by the witches or a "dagger of the mind" created by Macbeth’s guilt

The night has been unruly... Some say, the earth / Was feverous and did shake.

Act 2 Scene 3 - On the night of Duncan’s murder, the earth itself behaves as if it has a fever, reacting to the "unnatural" crime

A falcon... Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd

Act 2 Scene 4 - Nature has turned upside down; the "weaker" bird killing the "stronger" mirrors Macbeth (the subject) killing Duncan (the King)

Duncan’s horses… Turned wild in nature, Make war with mankind…tis said they eat each other

Act 2 Scene 4 - Duncan’s horses were the most majestic but they turned savage and cannibalistic to reflect the disruption to the natural order

[Enter the Ghost of Banquo, and sits in Macbeth's place]

Act 3 Scene 4 - By sitting in Macbeth’s "place" (the throne/head of the table), the Ghost visually fulfills the Witches’ prophecy that Banquo’s descendants will inherit the crown. It shows the supernatural "taking over" Macbeth’s physical world

Thou canst not say I did it: never shake / Thy gory locks at me

Act 3 Scene 4 - Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost. While the guests see nothing, the ghost represents the supernatural haunting of his conscience