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What Is The Role Of Prophecy In Macbeth

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In the play Macbeth, the lead role “Macbeth” was given a prophecy. Part of the prophecy stated that Macbeth would be king. Macbeth made decisions to make the prophecies come true, rather than believing that his actions were predetermined. Shakespeare, the author of Macbeth, probably believed that fate is never predetermined. I believe Macbeth’s actions were the cause of his own decisions, and that he did what he could to make his prophecies come true. Macbeth did not consider becoming king until he receives his prophecy. This prophecy is given to him by the Weird Sisters. As a reader, this poses the question, “Would Macbeth have considered becoming king if it were not for the Weird Sisters?” For example, soon after seeing the three witches, Macbeth decided to kill the present King at the time, Duncan. It is fairly clear that Macbeth receives these ideas from the weird sisters. However, Macbeth makes the decision to kill Duncan on his own without fate being responsible. …show more content…

He was the one who became paranoid and killed many innocent people, including: Banquo, Fleance, MacDuff’s family, and Siward’s son. These were all of Macbeth’s free will, but his actions proved the prophecy to be correct. Macbeth fulfilled the prophecy because he had prior knowledge of it. This idea is a paradox in itself because it can never be known if Macbeth would have fought for the throne without previously knowing his prophecy. In conclusion, Macbeth’s fate was not predetermined; the decisions he made were fully his.While he might of been influenced by the prophecy, he still completed the actions of his own free

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