Shakespeare's Use Of Supernatural In Macbeth
A second supernatural occurrence that Shakespeare uses to create a dramatic air in the play is when a blood-stained dagger appears in front of Macbeth at midnight in the dark rooms. He calls it a “fatal vision” and speculates if it is a “dagger of the mind”, a false creation, “proceeding from the heat oppressed brain”. This hallucination of the pointed dagger is used as a way to pursue Macbeth into murdering King Duncan. This spiritual item has a sympathy effect for the audience onto Macbeth. When the dagger appears in front of him Macbeth becomes a victim to the delusions of his frenzied brain. He can not stop thinking about what he was told by the witches and thus, this leads him to commit the murder. Shakespeare endows this dagger with