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How does Shakespeare present the attitudes of Macbeth and Banquo to the Supernatural? Grade 9 Response $8.39   Add to cart

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How does Shakespeare present the attitudes of Macbeth and Banquo to the Supernatural? Grade 9 Response

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Grade 9 Gcse Macbeth and Banquo Essay. I did this essay as my Gcse, and typed up a copy for my cousin- this got me full marks.

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  • May 11, 2022
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  • 2020/2021
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By: luisasluisa • 1 year ago

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How does Shakespeare present the attitudes of Macbeth and Banquo to the

Supernatural?

Shakespeare develops the contrasting attitudes of Macbeth and Banquo to the supernatural to

endear Banquo to the audience and record Macbeths declining heroism. Due to the

superstitions of the era, a Jacobean audience will further trust Banquo’s wariness of the

supernatural and be more wary of Macbeths character when it opposes that. In this essay, I

will explore how, while the “instruments of darkness” intrigued both characters, the attitudes

of Banquo and Macbeth were evolved through moral endurance; the motif of the supernatural

throughout the play allowing Shakespeare to put their morality through a trial of “human

kindness”, and how Macbeth fails.

When first meeting with the witches, Banquo and Macbeth are both notably intrigued by the

supernatural prophecies. While Banquo is more wary than Macbeth, saying the witches are “not like

th’inhabitants of the earth” (thus keeping an important separation between his character and the

supernatural), he still believes the witches, just as Macbeth does. This belief is shown by both

characters’ dialogue, after the witches vanish, repeating the prophecies as truth (“Your children

shall be king/You shall be king”). Shakespeare presents their attitudes to the supernatural as initially

similar though not the same- Macbeth’s use of imperatives in this scene shows his enthusiasm to be

stronger than Banquo’s. This allows for those same attitudes to develop throughout the play.

Additionally, this development is foreshadowed before Ross and Angus come on stage when

Banquo states that Macbeth repeated the prophecies “to th’selfsame tune and words” leaving the

audience with an uneasy feeling that Macbeth has taken the witches’ prophecies and memorised

them as if under a trance. A Jacobean audience, in their superstitious beliefs, would immediately

distrust Macbeth memorising the prophecies and having such enthusiasm. In the same way, they

would also trust Banquo more, being familiar with his wariness of the “instruments of darkness”.

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