Macbeth :: essays research papers

In Shakespeares Macbeth, supernatural powers are used by the three witches. Thesepowers are called familiars. A familiar is a spirit often embodied in an animal and isthere to serve and guard a person. Each of the witches possesses a familiar ask out for the troika witch. Her familiar is never laid on the table for us to see. In my paper I will showhow the owl is the familiar of the third witch.First you must understand what a familiar is. In Websters dictionary the wordfamiliar is defined as a closely acquainted an suggest associate or companion, a spiritembodied in an animal and held to attend and serve or guard a person. The clich of afamiliar is associated to witches and infernal characters. But, this is a very untruestatement. A pet can also be a familiar to a regular person. There are foursome types offamiliars. The first is a physical creature who lives with and has an emotional bond witha human. The second type of familiar is a creature which attaches itself to a human f orthe answer of aiding him or her. The third type of familiar is an element spirit. Somewitches call upon a spirit to over sleep together an obstacle. The fourth type of familiar is the spritof someone who has died. They come back for some reason or purpose usually to setstraight an event. These are all different types of familiars, but the one of my focal draw a bead onwould be attachment. In Macbeth, the owl aides the witch and also offers protection andacts as an overseer.The owl is a familiar which is associated with both good and evil. In antiquatedGreece, the mythological Athena, the goddess of wisdom, held the owl as her bird. Theowl served a s a protector to her and accompanied armies to war. The owl was also aninspiration in everyday support for the common man. Some village healers also usedfamiliars to help diagnose illness and to find lost objects and treasures. But, mostcommonly, the owl is said to be the lineage of all evil.In Roman mythology, a superstition was th at witches transformed into owls andsucked the blood from innocent children. Another superstition which surfaced during themiddle ages in Europe, was about an owls appearance at night. It is said that whenpeople are helpless and blind, the owl is linked to the unknown, and if an owl called atnight, the air would be filled with apprehension a death was at hand(predicate) with some evil