The Role Of Fate In Macbeth

Fate doesn’t control the knife in a murderer’s hand, wavering above the throat of their next victim. Just as fate doesn’t control the amount of blood that follows. Nor does fate take hold of one’s mind when it is twisting on the side of evil and malice. While fate may have some hold on some actions, it often doesn’t make up for most of the crimes done by most people. It is the same in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Macbeth had choices, even with the witches foretelling his fortune and his doom, and he chose every action, crime, and path he took. Fate had nothing to do with Macbeth’s actions, and Macbeth can be held accountable for all his actions since he could clearly determine between both sides in his choices, he understood the consequences, and

“If chance will have me king, why chance may crown me, without my stir” (Shakespeare 144). Macbeth, a loyal subject to his king has an encounter that will change his fate with an ultimate effect on his free will. They claim three predictions, Macbeth will be the Thane of Cawdor and later crowned King but Macbeths lineage will not maintain the throne. After this supernatural confrontation, Macbeth questions this loyalty which will ultimately lead to his new fate carried out (LitCharts 1). Fully capable to act upon his own free will, Macbeth instead is driven by fate to his destruction which gives further insight of his character advancement. This fate and option of free will, is seen throughout the play yet shows itself prominent in Macbeth.

In Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth, Macbeth was a victim of both free will and fate. One

For centuries, there has been lots debate on whether or not there is such thing as fate or free will. To this day, people are trying to decide if one’s life is already laid out for him/her and that if no matter what he/she does that it will still unfold in a preset way, in which that they cannot change, or if one has free will and the ability to completely change his/her life. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the main character, Macbeth, is not doomed by fate, but by free will. In particular, Shakespeare’s Macbeth demonstrates that it is not fate that determines one 's life as it is one 's flaws and choices. This is illustrated through Macbeth himself, who, first, makes the choice of not listening to his conscience, which continuously

Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth, analyzes the tragic downfall of a man who pursued his prophecy given to him by three witches, and suffered the downfall because of it. Told his power was inevitable, Macbeth explores the idea of murdering the King to achieve his goal of becoming King himself. Macbeth continually faces this, contemplating the moral issue of committing murder to in turn, fulfill his powerful destiny. While facing this internal conflict, Lady Macbeth developes an influence over Macbeth as well. Driven by her own desire to be Queen, Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to commit the murder, by challenging his manhood and often reminding him that it is, in fact, his destiny.

Fate, destiny, prophecy all important pieces of tall tales, stories, and legends, that give everything and everyone an unchangeable path. In the play, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the lives of man are once more played to the tune of a mischievous master. Though throughout the tale, Macbeth seemingly has free will, but in the end, realizes that he was just a pawn in someone’s game to be thrown away at a moment’s notice. As shown throughout the Book many times the witches tell Macbeth of his demise showing that he had truly no control of what was to come. In this case as in all cases the creator is at fault for creating Macbeth to bring horror, pain, and death to all those he betrayed.

Fate also plays a role in the death of Macbeth. The witches told Macbeth that he must look out for MacDuff. Also the witches told him that any man who was born of a woman could not harm him. But he didn’t know that MacDuff was born by caesarean. This provided Macbeth a made-up awareness of confidence and made him contemplate that no man could ever damage

Macbeth is the Shakespearean play that features the triumphant uprise and the inevitable downfall of its main character. In this play, Macbeth’s downfall can be considered to be the loss of his moral integrity and this is achieved by ambition, despite this, Lady Macbeth and the witches work through his ambition, furthering to assist his inevitable ruin. Ambition alone is the most significant factor that led to Macbeth’s downfall. The witches are only able to influence his actions through Macbeth’s pre-existing and the three witches see that Macbeth has ambition and uses it to control his action. Ambition alone is displayed throughout the play to be the most significant cause for Macbeth’s downfall.

”(Stace). However, in reality, Macbeth is not one subject to merely fate. Macbeth freely chooses however to let fateful factors influence him to

Often times, people go through rises and downfalls in their lives that they themselves are responsible for. In Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, both main characters, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth, himself, are responsible for the downfall of Macbeth. Lady Macbeth is responsible for the tragedy because she convinces and manipulates Macbeth into doing the deed. However, Shakespeare accomplishes in showing that Macbeth is more responsible for his own downfall than Lady Macbeth because he listens to the witches and follows his ambition rather than his conscience.

Macbeth is a drama that was written by William Shakespeare in 1606 during the reign of James I after the death of Queen Elizabeth. The play is set in Scotland , which is also the homeland of James I, who was on the throne. There are a lot of historical events that serve as pretense for the plot of Macbeth. For example Queen Elizabeth obtained the throne by playing an instrumental role in having her cousin Queen Mary beheaded, as a dea. Macbeth also obtains the throne by overthrowing the current power. The play was reconstructed a threat to an anointed King and the perceived evil behind the threat and this alluded to the Gunpowder plot of 1605, which was plotted against King James 1. In Shakespeare writing this work he alluded to a lot of historical events that happened close to his time as a playwright. The question I raise in this essay is rather fate, fortune, or free will takes precedent when deciding someone’s

The tragic downfall is a common plot element used in tragedies. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth this rings true as a noble man is engrossed with blind ambition and becomes a tyrant. Shakespeare uses witches and fate to lead Macbeth to his own downfall and demise. The witches use prophecies to entice Macbeth that what he is doing is right and everything will work out in his favor. The prophecies also affect other characters into persuading him into committing acts that he normally would not do if it weren’t for the false hope that the witches had given him.

The ideas of fate and freewill have been debated on for years. Citizens of the twenty-first century often believe that life is a combination of fate and personal choices. The truth is, the question has gone through all of our minds whether we know of it or not. Are our lives predetermined or do we pave our own paths? To this day, when something goes wrong in my life, my parents often tell me “it was meant to be.” Was it really meant to be or did it happen because of the choices I made? Shakespeare’s play Macbeth displays how fate and freewill are interconnected. Although fate may dictate what will be, how it comes to be is completely dependent upon our personal choices. Macbeth was given prophecies by the three witches but the choices he made,

Each incident furthered his inability to process the fault in his doings; this eventually ended with his lack of emotion when presented with his wife’s suicide stating that “she should have died here hereafter”(V,v,17). He no longer felt fear, as he believed to be virtually invincible because “[...] for none of woman born shall harm Macbeth” (IV,i,79-81), not accounting for Macduff to be “[...] from his mother’s womb untimely ripp’d” (V,viii,15-16). This section of the prophecy created a false sense of security in Macbeth. Although, as in all Shakespearean tragedies, there is a glimpse of what the protagonist once was before they meet their demise.

and obtains the title, which trigger an arrogant and self-absorbed thinking leading to madness and finally, death. The play seems to bring up the question, whether Macbeth is fully responsible of his own destiny, or under control of fate. In the first glance, the play seems to take rather fatalistic direction, meaning that we are powerless to make decisions as they are inevitably determined by supernatural power (Hugh 1)) It is due to the presence of supernatural forces throughout the whole play that systematically fulfills the prophecy; therefore the witches represent the idea of fate in the play. However, Shakespeare seems to rather intertwine fate with free will and perhaps even promotes the second philosophy as the play evolves.