The supernatural elements of any story intrigue, thrill and capture readers' attention, adding an extra dimension to the text and performance. Rather than simply delighting his readers, Shakespeare incorporates ghosts and apparitions into his plays to serve a very specific purpose in advancing the story. In some cases, Shakespeare chooses pensive soliloquies to relay the inner workings of a character; in others, he chooses otherworldly hallucinations. From Julius Caesar, where Caesar's ghost has a brief interaction with Brutus, through Hamlet, where King Hamlet returns to his son to reveal the truth, and finally to Macbeth, where spectral images torment the ambitious king until 'to Madness, Shakespeare continually develops his use of the supernatural as an important method of characterization. Although the ghosts, apparitions, and hallucinations of these tragedies always serve as an inner glimpse into a character's mental state, they do so most visibly in Macbeth. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get the original essay In Shakespeare's earlier tragedies, Julius Caesar and Hamlet, the ghosts of deceased characters who played an important role in the past of the protagonists return to them, and in both cases, they constitute a manifestation of their inner turmoil. Caesar's ghost appears to Brutus in Julius Caesar and tells him that they will meet again at Philippi, the scene of the battle at the end of the play in which Brutus dies. Before assassinating his leader, Brutus had doubts about his actions; today, these fears have intensified. Critic FW Moorman points out that "Caesar's spirit is the embodiment of Brutus' sense of the failure and impending ruin of his cause" (195). Although we never explicitly hear Brutus' thoughts in this scene, his conversation with the spirit makes it clear that he is worried about facing the consequences of his actions. Something similar happens in Hamlet, when the ghost of Hamlet's father appears to confirm what the young prince suspected all along: that his father's death was murder and that someone close to him – Claudius – was responsible. Upon hearing the truth, Hamlet's first words are: "Oh, my prophetic soul! (I. v. 40), confirming the idea that he had his suspicions long before they were confirmed. However, we are unaware of this until the ghost appears: King Hamlet's ghost serves as a driving force, revealing Hamlet's troubled thoughts and transforming them into actions that will ultimately lead to his downfall. These elements of the supernatural, however, do not appear as prominently in these early plays as they ultimately do in Macbeth. Shakespeare's use of ghosts and apparitions progresses over time. Although these characters, as previously noted, make appearances in Julius Caesar and Hamlet, there are more obvious ways in which we learn about the mental states of the characters. In Julius Caesar, we learn most about Brutus through his interactions with others, particularly through his arguments with Cassius earlier in the play. In Hamlet, Hamlet's famous soliloquies play the most important role in revealing his thoughts; especially towards the end of the play, when he is increasingly troubled by his delay in killing his uncle, his deliberative asides become frequent and quite revealing. In Macbeth, ghosts and apparitions are central to the development of the main character. Moorman notes that "a"phantom is required in Macbeth because of the particular constitution of the ghost seer's mind" (195-96), echoing the idea that in this tragedy the presence of a ghost is indicative of the mental state of Macbeth. Macbeth is tormented by the power of his own ambition which conflicts with his ingrained morality which condemns acts of regicide. He is pushed both by the prophecy which proclaims him king and by the determination of his wife. Goading, but restrained by his own conscience. His panic to ensure the throne remains with him even drives him to kill someone he once considered a friend. Because of this, his mind is in one of the most delicate states a Shakespearean protagonist has ever experienced, and after the crime he begins to completely break down. The ghost of Banquo's appearance at the banquet is so unsettling, in part, because he doesn't even need to utter a word to achieve his goal. This spirit appears as the embodiment of Macbeth's crippling guilt for the crimes he committed, for killing Duncan and Banquo, as evidenced by Macbeth's frantic response: "You can't say I did it . Never shake your bloody hair against me” (III. iv. 50-51). Although the ghost is a hallucination, since it appears to no one other than Macbeth and speaks no words, this hallucination reflects Macbeth's deteriorating psychological situation. His mind slowly collapses under the weight of guilt, and Shakespeare incorporates this spirit of vengeance in order to convey it to the audience. This same theme is true of Macbeth's other hallucinations, which, while not involving the physical embodiment of a spirit like his vision of Banquo's ghost, reveal just as much about his mind. Just before killing Duncan, he imagines voices shouting "Macbeth sleeps murder!" » (II. ii. 33), which effectively reveals his guilt even before he commits the crime. The famous dagger hallucination serves the same purpose: its presence highlights his inner uncertainty to the audience, and an explicit declaration of the guilt he feels is therefore unnecessary. This, in many ways, is far more powerful; we can see his guilt in the image of the dagger, feel his guilt as he looks at it and wonders if it is truth or fiction. We don't need to hear about his guilt. Through the image of the dagger and the hallucination of the screaming voices, we learn exactly what is going on in the mind of the ambitious nobleman. These apparitions are both hallucinations and supernatural messengers; although they are not real, they are the highly focused product of the inner workings of a troubled mind. Shakespeare places them in strategic positions throughout the text, both before Macbeth commits the fateful crime and after the deed is accomplished, in order to characterize his antihero in a much more subtle way. The fact that characters other than the protagonist also experience these supernatural projections further distinguishes Macbeth from previous plays. Lady Macbeth also falls prey to these hallucinations, and they contribute more directly to her death than to Macbeth's. Earlier in the play, she seems incredibly self-confident, convinced that killing Duncan will bring her and her husband to the esteemed status they deserve. While Macbeth wavers in his confidence from the beginning, Lady Macbeth never seems to waver. Only later, through her persistent hallucinations of blood on her hands, do we learn that her mind is more fragile than it initially appeared and that guilt has also affected her, perhaps even more than her husband. The critic Isador Henry Coriat describes this as "one of the cases in which hallucinations occurred.