Magical Wonders (Macbeth) Essay, Research Paper
Magical Wonders
Magic What is magic? By definition magic is the pretended or supposed art of using secret charms and spirits to make unnatural things happen. Magic is also the art or skill of creating illusions, especially by sleight of hand.
The magic that happens in Macbeth is different and also similar to the definition of Magic. There are lots of magical wonders that happen in Macbeth. The three main magical wonders in Macbeth are when he meets the three witches in the hill. When he sees Banquo s ghost in his seat, and also when Lady Macbeth is very ill and at night she gets out of bed and goes to wash off a spot of blood that will not come off her hands.
The first magical wonder that happens in the book is when Macbeth and Banquo meet the three witches up on the hill during the battle. This may not seem like that great of magic because it is not. It is only magic when he is being greeted with the three titles, Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, and King hereafter. This is only magic because it is like prediction, but the magical thing about it is the fact that the witches are reading the future, they know what will happen to Macbeth s future. This magic is necessary to have in the play because it develops the most of the story, when the reader is reading it or if it is being preformed. It is also a psychological device used to probe Macbeth s mind because after he is done talking to the witches he considers killing off Banquo. This scene prones his mind into killing Banquo.
The second magical wonder is when the three murderers kill Banquo. When Macbeth s banquet is about to start and one of the murderers is at the door telling Macbeth that Banquo is dead and Fleance had escaped. After Macbeth hears this news he goes back to his chair at the banquet to find the ghost of Banquo in his chair. Macbeth starts to go crazy thinking someone is playing a joke on him. The only problem is that no one can see the ghost except Macbeth. This type of magic is both a symbol and psychological device. It is more of a psychological device because it is the kind of magic that plays with his mind. Him seeing the ghost of Banqou and no one else being able to see it is psychological because the ghost is sort of a figment in his imagination.
The last magical wonder on Macbeth is when Lady Macbeth is very ill. She starts to wake from her sleep and tries to wipe this spot of blood off her hand. The nurse that is taking care of Lady Macbeth notices this unnatural act and tells the doctor about it. They watch her one night as she sleepwalks. Talking to herself, as she rubs her hands to get rid of the blood spot. She reveals some dark secrets about the murders that have gone on especially the Thane of Cawdor murder; the one she planned. She rubs her hand so hard yelling at the blood spot to come off, but it won t come off. She says, out damned spot out I say , but the blood spot still does not come out. When the spot will not come off she says in a sighed voice, what s done cannot be undone . This is a psychological kind of magic that happens in the play because the blood spot does not really exist on her hand. It just exist on her hand to her because she cannot get the murder out of her mind so she goes crazy and starts to wash her hands as if they were dirty. This kind of magic is also a symbolic kind of magic because it shows what can happen to peoples minds if they were to do such a thing.
As you know there are other magical wonders throughout the story. Magic can have a powerful and not so powerful effect on book, movies and play writes. In this case magic had a very powerful effect on the play Macbeth