How is the supernatural presented in Macbeth? Shakespeare represents the supernatural as a powerful and scary force that tempts Macbeth into committing murderous acts. This is important because this leads to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's downfall. A Jacobean audience would have been scared and shocked of the witches' appearance and acts in the play. Overall, the supernatural creates an atmosphere of mystery and doubt. Firstly, Shakespeare introduces the supernatural through the witches, who are shown as mischievous, cunning and abnormal. The witches immediately create a sense of chaos and confusion. At the start of the play, the witches chant "Fair is foul and foul is fair." Shakespeare uses their rhyme to set the theme of deception and moral confusion. At the time, many people believed in the supernatural, being sinful and should be avoided, making the witches even more shocking to a Jacobean audience. Also, King James was interested in the supernatural, so Shakespeare implemented this in his plays to please and entertain the King. Shakespeare also presents the supernatural through Lady Macbeth's hallucinations, which show Lady Macbeth's downfall as she breaks down, envisioning blood on her hands. The visions reveal that Lady macbeth is becoming weaker as she realises she is just as guilty as macbeth as she convinces him to murder king Duncan after hearing the witches prophecies given to macbeth. This is seen when Lady macbeth sleep walks and imagines blood on her hands, "out damned spot!" This suggests her overwhelming guilt has caught up to her and she is having a mental break down from trying to appear as normal as possible. This creates the impression that Lady macbeth isn't as strong as she wishes to be giving into the gender norms of jacobean times when women were perceived as more weak and weary than men. The supernatural seems to control her because in the start she called for spirits to "unsex me here" showing the prophecies had taken a hold of her lighting her ambition. The jacobean audience believed the devil could plant false visions. This would make Lady macbeth appear evil and satanic. This shows the supernatural is presented as powerful and decieving through visions. Shakespeare also presents the supernatural through the description of nature after Duncan's murder. The unnatural events reflect how king Duncan's murder was against nature and was an act against God. This is shown when the characters describe how horrible it was discovering King Duncans dead body, when macduff exclaims "O horror, horror, horror!" and for example, the line "Bleed, bleed poor country!" suggest that Scotland is suffering under the new rule of Macbeth. This implies that the natural world is reacting to King Duncan's unnatural death and the supernatural is shown to affect the whole kingdom because the death of the king is from Macbeth committing murder through his ambition, that without the supernatural prophecies planted within him. According to the Great Chain of Being the killing of a king disrupts the natural and spiritual order. Killing a king was believed to be the worst sin a man can do, serving to be the cause of Macbeth's downfall as he ends a tyrant. This shows that the supernatural is presented as a force that can't be underestimated and is powerful. In conclusion, Shakespeare presents the supernatural as cunning, powerful and the cause of chaos. Across the play, the witches, visions and unnatural events all show how Macbeth and Lady Macbeth's actions have consequences and disrupting order will always result badly. Shakespeare may have wanted the audience to understand that messing with supernatural forces should never be done and has serious repercussions if tampered with.