Preview

The Role Of Fate And Free Will In Macbeth

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
602 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Role Of Fate And Free Will In Macbeth
In William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, the reader is left to ponder the question of whether fate or free will is responsible for Macbeth's actions. Some people believe that the three sisters control Macbeth's fate and that he is as much a victim as King Duncan and his grooms, while others believe that Macbeth, alone, is responsible for his actions. Although fate has a part in Macbeth's decisions, the story is a tragedy of character. The witches prophesy that Macbeth will someday be king and Lady Macbeth rouses his hidden aspirations and desires, but it is Macbeth's ambition that gives rise to the poor decisions he makes to fulfill the prophecy.
The witches' prophecy sets certain events in motion, but it is Macbeth who chooses to commit murder

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Fate is more significant in determining Macbeth’s course, who is the main character of the play “Macbeth” which was written by Shakespeare. The following phrases said respectively by the second witch and the third witch: “ All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!” “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” are clearly examples of fate determining Macbeth's course. These two phrases of Act 1, Scene 3 said by the witches suggest a prophecy, which says that Macbeth shall become the Thane of Cawdor and later on, he shall become the King of Scotland. Another example of fate determining Macbeth's course occurs when Macbeth is killed by MacDuff, the Thane of Fife. The witches in Act 4, Scene 1 told Macbeth a prophecy, which is: “Beware…

    • 238 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, Macbeth’s decisions are heavily influenced by Lady Macbeth and the witches. Lady Macbeth encourages Macbeth to kill Duncan, and the witches predict Macbeth’s future life by showing him. Therefore the decisions that the other characters make are crucial because they really shape out the life of Macbeth during and after he obtains the throne. The advice he takes will eventually lead to his demise due mainly because he couldn’t say no or see future problems arise.…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Macbeth is influenced by the witches through their prophecy, and Lady Macbeth through her knowledge of their relationship and her cunning, however Macbeth is responsible for making the decision. Making this decision, Macbeth and the process he went through gives a glimpse into what it’s like make a decision that goes against human nature as a whole. It reveals how many take part in the decision making process, and try to sway the decision maker’s verdict. The decision maker decides and has to live with the verdict and it’s possible repercussions.…

    • 91 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    William Shakespeare’s tragic play ‘Macbeth’ depicts a tale of a honourable Thane and his unethical raise to sovereignty, to his untimely destruction and death. Lady Macbeth’s ambition and greed was instrumental in her husband, Macbeth’s moral downfall, however it was not the only factor that contributed to the outcome. Macbeth himself and the deception and manipulation presented to him by ‘wired sisters’ drove Macbeth to his own downfall. It was the witch meddlesome prophecies that lead Macbeth down the destructive and murderous path and that fuelled Lady Macbeth’s ambition and greed. Macbeth must also be held responsible for his own actions that created…

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir. ”(1.2.16-20) So says Macbeth in William Shakespears play by the same name. This quote encompasses a major theme of William Shakespears play, fate versus free will. The purpose of this essay is to prove that free will does trump fate in Shakespears Macbeth.…

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Free will is seen much more frequently than fate. Fate is just much more obvious. Just like how the witches are guides for fate, Macbeth himself is actually a guide for free will. For example, Macbeth made the decision to kill the king. He was obviously persuaded by the promise of royalty but that decision was still all his own.…

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth Fate Quotes

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages

    It is said that fate does not choose it’s own victims, but it’s victims choose their own fate. In the tragedy Hamlet by Shakespeare, it is evident that the tragic hero, Macbeth, chooses his own fate and creates his own downfall. With greed, hubris and mistrust, Macbeth chooses and shapes his own destiny. Macbeth’s greed for power leads to the mistrust of those around him and in the end forms his fatal downfall. If the evil inside Macbeth was not to have overtaken the good, his ending may have concluded otherwise.…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The three witches are the catalyst of the play and they promote the theme-Fate and Free will, they set up the dark mysterious tone in the play. First of all, the witches accurately predict significant events in Macbeth’s life: they hail Macbeth as three things: Thane of Glamis, thane of Cowdor and “king hereafter”(pg 18), which represent past, present, and future. Macbeth is already the thane of Glamis and Duncan is sending Ross and Angus to make him Thane of Cowdor at that time. In this way, the three witches have established themselves as the struggle between nature and super nature, how can three strangers know you better than yourself? So When Macbeth becomes the Thane of Cowdor, he begins to believe in the prophecy and that’s…

    • 3357 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Who Is Macbeth To Blame?

    • 374 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth, fate is often a common discussion among readers. Does Macbeth create his own fate or is he a victim of circumstance? Macbeth is perceived as a victim of circumstance, and a victim to his own unavoidable fate. Macbeth and his friend Banquo come upon three witches, or the wyrd sisters, who tell Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor, and one day he will become King. This is the small summary of Act 1 Scene 3 in Macbeth.…

    • 374 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shakespeare shows that free choice rather than fate is responsible for the downfall of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Macbeth had many instances that he could have stopped creating destruction in the lives of both himself and the other people in his life. Coincidentally, if he had chosen not to kill so many people, he himself would not have been killed. Macbeth decides to let Lady Macbeth pressure him into killing the King. This was the first instance of free will. Had he chosen not to kill him, he would not have turned into such a cold-blooded killer. All of deaths that occur because Macbeth is trying to climb to the top can all be summed up into free choice. He chose to kill the king, so now why couldn’t he keep killing? It is not like it…

    • 490 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth, the famous play written by Shakespeare, has a numerous amount of factors that contribute to the untimely fate of Macbeth. Hecate, the Greek Goddess of sorcery, crossroads, ghosts, and necromancy, scolded the three witches for spoiling Macbeth’s fate by telling him the path he was eventually going to end up taking. Insinuating that they knew his fate, they told him that he would become Thane of Cawdor and continue on to gain the title of king. Macbeth’s murdering of the king was the path that he was always going to take-- it was his fate.…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some people say that a person’s fate is pre-determined. That nothing they do in life is by accident and everything that one does has been decided by a higher power. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare explores the theme of fate by allowing the audience to be party to his characters’ destiny. In the opening lines of the play the audience is told what is going to happen to the lovers, “a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life.” Throughout the story, the audience is put in an omnipotent, god-like position from the start encouraging them to think about fate and to what extent our actions are free. In Macbeth, the idea of one character becoming both victim and villain is introduced. Macbeth falls prey to others' deception, and is supplanted with greed and hate when three witches trick him. When told that he is going to be King of Scotland, Macbeth does whatever he can to ensure his property. In Macbeth's quest for power, he gains a flaw that ends in a deteriorated relationship with Lady Macbeth, and his eventual defeat. While comparing Romeo from Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth from Macbeth, with regards to their relationships with friends, their ambition and the fate in their lives, one discovers that both characters are very alike, but Macbeth is seen as a more harsh and greedy person than Romeo.…

    • 1225 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    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 makes…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Fate, unlike fatalism, does not stipulate that human deliberation and actions are inconsequential in causing an event, as its occurrence is inevitable. Rather it simply states that all events, and the choices leading up to them, are predetermined; hence the role of freewill is no less significant in deciding fated events than it is when considering situations from a non-fated perspective. This concept can be observed in William Shakespeare's Macbeth, in which the title character's fate, as it is prophesised in the play, is clearly the result of and dependent on his own decisions as much as it is circumstances beyond his control. Several times during the play, such as in deciding to trust and act on the witches prophecies, Macbeth is seen to consciously choose a path of action that, unknowingly, leads him to his death. While it could be viewed as his fate to die as such it is obvious at all times that he is actively involved in its cause and cannot be considered unresponsible for its occurrence.…

    • 1256 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies. It tells the story of a man who makes bad choices based on the influence of others. Macbeth is an honorable solider until he meets three evil witches that know his deepest desire is to one day be king, so they tell him that he will be king one day. Macbeth immediately begins to have thoughts of murdering King Duncan even though he knows it is wrong. When Lady Macbeth learns that Macbeth will eventually become king, she begins making plans to murder Duncan as well. When Macbeth has doubts about the murder, Lady Macbeth uses the love he has for her to persuade him to make the choices she wants him to make. Therefore, Macbeth does not make the best choices possible. In fact, he makes all bad choices. Not only does he murder Duncan, he begins murdering people who are close to him as well. It is the influence of the three witches, Lady Macbeth, and Macbeth's own ambition that lead to his ultimate downfall. However, in the end it is Macbeth’s ambition the has the greatest influence over his choices.…

    • 1785 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays