supernatural

• "Fair is foul, and foul is fair"(Act 1, Scene 1)

  This paradox immediately establishes the witches as agents of moral inversion. It suggests a world where the boundaries between good and evil are blurred, setting the tone for the supernatural to undermine reality.

  The chiasmus ("fair is foul") creates a sense of instability, reflecting the witches’ power to manipulate truth and perception.

  Fractured syntax and rhyme mimic incantation, emphasising their mystical nature.
• The witches’ early appearance in the structure (Act 1 Scene 1) shows how the supernatural initiates the action, reflecting proleptic irony as they foreshadow Macbeth’s descent into evil
• thesis

  Shakespeare presents the supernatural as a powerful, manipulative force that distorts reality and disrupts the natural order driving characters towards absolute disintegration and through the witches equivocal language and psychological manifestations of guilt, the supernatural becomes both an external catalyst and an internal tormentor to warn the Jacobean audience about the consequences that may follow if one adheres to unnatural prophecies
• the theme of the supernatural is employed by Shakespeare to de-stabilise Macbeth's integrity and return his increasing attraction with moral failure and Macbeth's growing inclination towards supernatural soliciting
• "the usurpers cursed head"

  "head"- is used as a motif to symbolise Macbeths declining heroism as he beheads the traitor from the start but now his own head has been beheaded

  Noun "usurper" Emphasises Macbeth's illegitimacy. He stole the throne by murdering Duncan, a betrayal of the divine right of kings.

  Adjective "cursed" Implies divine or moral punishment — his head is not just dead, but spiritually damned, reflecting religious ideas of sin and hell.

  Possessive Phrase "the usurper’s" The head is not just any head — it is defined entirely by Macbeth's treachery, as if his identity is now fused with his crime.

  Symbolism Macbeth’s head Symbolises the collapse of tyranny, the return of order, and the cost of overreaching ambition.
• “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! / All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! / All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!”
• “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! / All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! / All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!”

  The prophetic structure of this triplet suggests an inevitable progression, presenting Macbeth’s rise to power as a predetermined fate.

  Shakespeare complicates this by showing that the witches never instruct Macbeth to commit murder—he chooses to interpret their words as justification for regicide.
• Banquo's reaction was one of scepticism based on Jacobean religiosity
• "instruments of darkness, tell us truths; win us with honest trifles, to betray us"
• "instruments of darkness, tell us truths; win us with honest trifles, to betray us"

  motif if witchcraft as he class them as instruments of darkness

  connotations of spiritual malpractice and eeriness is how Shakespeare builds esteem for his in the eyes of the audience who would be strongly opposed by the idea of sorcery- his Christian morality- even this is challenged when the witches say that he will be "greater" and "lesser" than Macbeth- the equivocation highlights the deceitful nature of the supernatural- the oxymoronic phrase condemns the nature of witch craft as multifaceted- to show that even the most honourable can be tested by the supernatural