Freewill In Macbeth

In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare the role of freewill is characterized in many ways. Throughout the play Macbeth's rise to kingship showed how other people's opinions influenced his choices. The three witches appeared many times throughout the play and they had gotten their ideas into Macbeth's head and he used them as a support that he could become king of Scotland. His own wife Lady Macbeth pushed him into making bad decisions because she was greedy, and Macduff became his worst enemy as he was his reason for his tragic death.

In the beginning of the play the three witches appear to tell Macbeth about his future. The witches tell Macbeth, “All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!” (Macbeth, 1.3.51-53). The witches are

The next day when Macduff finds Duncan's body, Macbeth kills the guards and confesses to it so it will seem as he killed them because he was mad at them for killing the king. Macbeth then kills Banquo in fear that he will become king one day because the witches had said he would. Because Macduff found the king dead Macbeth killed his family when he leaves to England. That same day Macbeth finds out his wife Lady Macbeth committed suicide because she couldn’t get the idea of killing the king out of her head. “Out, damned spot! out, I say!...Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him”(Macbeth, 5.1.39-45). At this point in the play King Duncan’s son Malcolm has returned with an army and is ready to fight Macbeth. At first Macbeth was not scared but he then sees that the wood shields they have are made from the woods the witches warned him about, “ Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until Great Birnam wood to high Dunsinane hill shall come against him” (Macbeth,