It was the owl that shriek’d, the fatal bellman,
Which gives the stern’st good-night.
– William Shakespeare
Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2. Lady Macbeth hears an owl shriek at the time her husband is meant to be murdering Duncan. In a metaphor she compares the owl to a bellman or town crier. The “fatal bellman” was the night watchman who rang a bell at the door of a condemned prisoner to summon him for execution. According to medieval folklore, the owl’s screech foretold the death of a person. This passage is foreshadowing of Duncan’s death. It is also an example of the use of supernatural animal imagery to signal a disruption in the natural order of things.