Supernatural refers to the existence of something or an event that is beyond what is seen or observed. It is also described as something that doesn’t follow the laws of nature. When we think of supernatural we automatically think of magic, UFO’s, or ghost. The element of supernatural is put into many movies and books even to this day. We see supernatural used in many ways such as supernatural events happening or encountering a supernatural being. We see examples of supernatural being used in Mary Shelley’s On Ghost in passages such as:

“This visitation continued for several weeks, when by some accident he altered his residence, and then he saw it no more. Such a tale may easily be explained away; but several years had passed, and he, a man of strong and virile intellect, said that “he had seen a ghost.”

This passage shows a supernatural element in it because of how the narrator talks about what happened all the way up to how the character claims that he had seen a ghost.

“No sooner had he mentioned the coffin with the crown upon it, than his friend’s cat, who seemed to have been lying asleep before the fire, leaped up, crying out, ‘Then I am king of the cats;’ and then scrambled up the chimney, and was never seen more.”

This passage shows a supernatural element in it because of how the cat starts talking. In this passage, the cat gets up claiming that “Then I am king of cats”. This is considered supernatural because cats do not talk. The supernatural style of writing can also be interpreted as a type of motif of writing in novels.

Works Cited:

“Omnipotent.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, www.dictionary.com/browse/omnipotent.

“Supernatural.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/supernatural.

“’On Ghosts’ by Mary Shelley (1824).” Pornokitsch, www.pornokitsch.com/2014/07/non-fiction-on-ghosts-by-mary-shelley.html.