# Supernatural characters of Shakespeare **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 3, 2015, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernatural-characters-of-shakespeare/714094 "2015-03-03T14:40:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernatural-characters-of-shakespeare/714094/21 "2015-03-04T01:50:22Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Prospero is a wizard, of course, but there is no reference to him performing magic (although, in Teller’s staging, he actually performs quite a bit. So does Ariel.) He claims to have called up the Tempest. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernatural-characters-of-shakespeare/714094/22 "2015-03-04T01:53:31Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > The soothsayer in _Julius Caesar._ The OP excludes Calpurnia’s visions – but this is a **professional** soothsayer, one infers he has such visions frequently. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernatural-characters-of-shakespeare/714094/23 "2015-03-04T16:04:49Z")
He’s also a character who serves no other purpose in the story: Calpurnia’s visions are incidental to her being Caesar’s wife, but the Soothsayer is defined by his visions. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2015, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernatural-characters-of-shakespeare/714094/24 "2015-03-05T00:14:18Z")
The goddess Diana appears in _Pericles_ in a vision to Pericles: **Diana:** My temple stands in Ephesus: hie thee thither, And do upon mine altar sacrifice. There, when my maiden priests are met together, Before the people all, 2465 Reveal how thou at sea didst lose thy wife: To mourn thy crosses, with thy daughter’s, call And give them repetition to the life. Or perform my bidding, or thou livest in woe; Do it, and happy; by my silver bow! 2470 Awake, and tell thy dream. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2015, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernatural-characters-of-shakespeare/714094/25 "2015-03-05T00:46:47Z")
In Henry VI, part 1, Joan of Arc summons demons to help her on the battlefield against the English, and then in part 2 of the play, Bolingbroke and Margery Jourdayn summon a spirit to tell them the fates of King Henry and the Dukes of Suffolk and Sommerset. Also, in Richard III, before the last battle, Richard is visited by the ghosts of the people he murdered, who damn him and praise Henry VII. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernatural-characters-of-shakespeare/714094/26 "2015-03-05T16:16:36Z")
Speaking of the witches in _ **Macbeth** _… In Agatha Christie’s \*\*\*Curtain, \*\*\* the last Hercule Poirot novel, it’s pointed out that the witches “prophecies” needn’t have been supernatural. Their first “prophecy” was something Macbeth already knew. And their second was something he himself MADE happen. The forest moving was a good one, though. ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2015, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernatural-characters-of-shakespeare/714094/27 "2015-03-05T16:48:58Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > Owen Glendower in _Henry IV, Part I_. If you believe him. He calls forth music a little later in that scene which the other characters comment on. The portrayals I have seen of this have the characters slightly startled by the music coming from an unseen (presumably Glendower’s magic) source. ---
**Author:** ![Flying\_Saucer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9dc877/32.png) [@Flying\_Saucer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flying_Saucer)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2015, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernatural-characters-of-shakespeare/714094/28 "2015-03-06T17:42:16Z")
Thanks everybody. So basically we’ve got the witches in _Macbeth_, the fairies in _Midsummer_, and the magical creatures and Prospero in _The Tempest_. Interesting – one tragedy, one comedy, one romance. I figured the histories wouldn’t make the list (magic not being real and all), so I’m intrigued by the “demons” in _Henry VI_ and the music in _Henry IV_. Diana in _Pericles_ might be only a vision, so I’m not sure it’s “really” her. It’s telling, and maybe disappointing, that Shakespeare never portrayed the classic Greek gods, heroes, or monsters. Yes, Theseus is in _Midsummer_ but he isn’t doing any Minotaur-slaying. Food for thought. Thank you again. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernatural-characters-of-shakespeare/714094/29 "2015-03-07T00:40:35Z")
For what it’s worth, I don’t know enough to know whether Shakespeare wrote himself into a corner and – if you will – simply said _A Wizard Did It_ when in need of a plot device for ROMEO AND JULIET: the plan that would solve all their problems, and instead leads to their untimely deaths, of course revolves around the following claim: > [@](#): > > Take thou this vial, being then in bed, > And this distilled liquor drink thou off; > When presently through all thy veins shall run > A cold and drowsy humour, for no pulse > Shall keep his native progress, but surcease: > No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou livest; > The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade > To paly ashes, thy eyes’ windows fall, > Like death, when he shuts up the day of life; > Each part, deprived of supple government, > Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death: > And in this borrow’d likeness of shrunk death > Thou shalt continue two and forty hours, > And then awake as from a pleasant sleep. > Now, when the bridegroom in the morning comes > To rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou dead: > Then, as the manner of our country is, > In thy best robes uncover’d on the bier > Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault > Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie. > In the mean time, against thou shalt awake, > Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift, > And hither shall he come I can’t brew a potion like that. I can’t brew a potion of invisibility, either. Can you? Can _anyone?_ ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernatural-characters-of-shakespeare/714094/30 "2015-03-07T00:43:34Z")
People have been buried alive because they appeared dead. It is not inconceivable there is a drug that could produce the effect. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernatural-characters-of-shakespeare/714094/31 "2015-03-07T00:45:40Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > People have been buried alive because they appeared dead. It is not inconceivable there is a drug that could produce the effect. For two and forty hours, at which point you’ll wake as from a pleasant sleep? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernatural-characters-of-shakespeare/714094/32 "2015-03-07T00:58:25Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > For two and forty hours, at which point you’ll wake as from a pleasant sleep? Yeah, that’s not realistic, but is it magic? Lots of writers have questionable pharmacology in their decidedly non-magical stories. The idea of an all purpose tranquilizer dart that harmlessly puts anyone to sleep, regardless of their body weight, potential allergies, or drug interactions is staple in a lot of spy thrillers. There is no such knock-out drug in real life, but that doesn’t mean that Q has a warlock working for him in his weapons lab. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernatural-characters-of-shakespeare/714094/33 "2015-03-07T15:22:33Z")
Yeah, I’d put Friar Lawrence’s potion in the category of science fiction, not fantasy. Whether it could exist in real life or not, Lawrence’s position is very clearly that this is an all-natural phenomenon, that anyone with the appropriate scientific knowledge could put together. There’s no ritual chanting or exertion of will or invocation of powers, just a bit of this plant and that, in the right proportions. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernatural-characters-of-shakespeare/714094/34 "2015-03-07T16:29:36Z")
> [@Flying\_Saucer](#): > > Thanks everybody. > > So basically we’ve got the witches in _Macbeth_, the fairies in _Midsummer_, and the magical creatures and Prospero in _The Tempest_. Interesting – one tragedy, one comedy, one romance. > > I figured the histories wouldn’t make the list (magic not being real and all), so I’m intrigued by the “demons” in _Henry VI_ and the music in _Henry IV_. Diana in _Pericles_ might be only a vision, so I’m not sure it’s “really” her. It’s telling, and maybe disappointing, that Shakespeare never portrayed the classic Greek gods, heroes, or monsters. Yes, Theseus is in _Midsummer_ but he isn’t doing any Minotaur-slaying. > > Food for thought. Thank you again. Again, there’s the prophetic Cranmer in _ **Henry VIII.** _ ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2015, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernatural-characters-of-shakespeare/714094/35 "2015-03-07T16:44:34Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > _The Tempest:_ Caliban (in addition to the ones already listed) > _Julius Caesar:_ Caesar’s ghost had a few lines, which would make him more than “minor” by the indicated standard – indeed, Caesar’s ghost might qualify as “great”. I saw that. :snick: > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > . . . > > I can’t brew a potion like that. I can’t brew a potion of invisibility, either. Can you? Can _anyone?_ Tetrodotoxin: > **[Dead Man Walking](https://www.biologyonline.com/articles/dead-man-walking)** > > This is an account of the man who learned the secret behind the zombie legend, and the ensuing controversy. > [@](#): > > . . . Sometimes diners get too much tetrodotoxin, and they lapse into a state of complete paralysis. Heartbeat and ventilation fall to imperceptible levels. Some of these individuals have revived after they had been pronounced dead, and in one case even after his coffin was nailed shut! Afterwards, most of these victims reported that they had been fully aware of what had been going on around them, even as they were unable to move or speak. Again, note the parallels to the case of Clairvius Narcisse. > . . . In any case, it is never claimed to be supernatural, but treated as an esoteric knowledge. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supernatural-characters-of-shakespeare/714094.md?page=1)