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Supernatural in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Macbeth

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Supernatural in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Macbeth
“The use of the supernatural occurs immediately at the beginning of the play with three witches predicting the fate of Macbeth. The predictions of the witches give the audience a clue to Macbeth’s future” (fieldofthemes.com) Adding a supernatural effect to both the story of “The Adventure’s Of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain and “Macbeth” by Shakespeare add an element of suspense and give the reader more to process and think about. In Huckleberry Finn, Jim feels very strongly about his belief in the supernatural. “ Jim said the witches bewitched him and put him in a trance, and rode him all over the State, and then set him under the trees again, and hung his hat on a limb to show who done it.” (Twain, Mark). This adds humor into Huck Finn and a sense of suspense. Although Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” and Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” share a common theme involving the Supernatural, Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” utilizes the theme of the supernatural with greater impact because of the time period, the active supernatural characters, and the predictions that foreshadow the entire play. For example, during the time period of the 1600’s, the belief in the supernatural was a common and exciting thing. “Elizabethan era citizens believed that certain actions would invite good or bad luck, just as other actions could ward off bad luck.” This belief in the supernatural gave the play Macbeth much more credibility in the fact that it was relatable to the time period. Along with flattering King James by adding in scenes related to him, including supernatural efforts gave Shakespeare an even better reputation. King James “was England's greatest witch hunter who was responsible for the deaths of more British witches than any other monarch in the history of England” (bukiska.com) Adding the supernatural elements made Macbeth even more watchable than it would have been without them. The supernatural characters, the witches, are the basis of the storyline in Macbeth. Without the witches predictions, Macbeth would have never become King or kill any of the people he ended up killing. These predictions foreshadowed the entire play and set up the basis of the storyline. The witches created a creepy and eerie feel to the story

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