Fate Vs Free Will In Shakespeare's Macbeth

Fate versus free will is a huge theme in the play Macbeth. It is Macbeth's fate that leads his free will to act the way he does. When the witches say "All hail Macbeth the future king" (I.iii.51) it leads Macbeth down a road of death and self-destruction. If Macbeth hadn't known

Through the soliloquy, the audience gains insight into Macbeth’s innermost thoughts. He names multiple reasons as to why he should not kill King Duncan, noting that Duncan is his guest, kinsman and a good king. He also admits that the only motive he has is the “Vaulting ambition” residing inside of him. Here he names his own hamartia, his fatal flaw, and acknowledges that to give in and commit such a deed, would result in his “deep damnation”. While still undecided on the matter, Lady Macbeth enters, and, seeing his indecision she decides to manipulate him into the decision that suits her; for after all, she is almost if not as ambitious as her husband. By questioning his manhood, his bravery, even their marriage, she successfully leads him to make the choice to kill the king. We now must realise that although the witches’ prophecies and Lady Macbeth’s taunts were a catalyst for Macbeth’s treachery, they never force him to make these errors in judgement; it must have been something that was already inside of him that caused him to decide this. There must have been some inherent evil already a part of his character.

In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, changes happen. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a well liked and good man of Scotland, who turns into an evil, cold hearted, murderer by the end. His rewards and punishments could have been predetermined by fate, but the actions he took to get to get those rewards and punishments were determined by Macbeth’s free will. In Macbeth, he attempts to control the future and hide the past by listening to other people and committing multiple murders of innocent people.

Fate vs Free Will is one of the most oft used literary techniques in writing. It is never more evident than in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. The major theme of the story Macbeth is whether or not the story is fueled by the free will of Macbeth, or by his fate. Are the events in Macbeth a result of his mentality and outlook on life, or were they going to happen no matter what? Almost every major event that takes place can be traced back to this question. It can be viewed in different ways, and most people have their own opinions. Dissecting this question is a part of what makes teaching Macbeth still have so much value to this day. But there is a clear answer to this question upon further dissection. The story of Macbeth is fueled by his free

Macbeth's feels that his destiny is to become King and rule with all the power that goes with kingship. The three witches on his way back to the kingdom, prophesied that he would rise to kingship. They said "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Glamis" (I, 3, 48), and then as the thane of Cawdor "All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, thane of Cawdor" (I, 3, 49). At this point in the play Macbeth had just become thane of Glamis, and the thane of Cawdor is still alive. Then, the witches greeted Macbeth as the King of Scotland saying "All hail, Macbeth! That shalt be King hereafter" (I, 3, 50). This is the point in the tragedy where Macbeth starts to think as a villain. If the witches had never greeted him as King on Scotland, then he would probably never have contemplated killing Duncan in the first place. At first, he believes that he will need to kill King Duncan. Though at the end of Act 1, Scene 3, he thinks that perhaps he doesn't need to do anything to become the king saying "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me without my stir.", showing he is a man of honor and morals. Then, Lady Macbeth hears of the prophecy in his letters and decides immediately for him that King Duncan must die, showing Macbeth's doubt. An

   Destiny "Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved." (William Jennings Bryan) Are we in control of our own destiny, our own fate, or are our lives really already planned and mapped out for us? Does Macbeth willfully choose evil in order to achieve his "destiny"? Or, is his "destiny" doomed by the witches' prophecies? Macbeth may not have made any of his same choices, if the three Weird sisters hadn't come to him. In Shakespeare's play Macbeth, Macbeth is no pawn of fate. Although Macbeth was destined to become king, the path he chose to take to achieve his aspiration of obtaining the throne was of his own free

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, there is a question as to whether or not Macbeth is driven by fate or free will. The three weird sisters approach Macbeth with prophecies that will all come true in the end. It would appear that Macbeth is just following destiny at first. However, Macbeth always had a choice throughout the play to choose his own fate. Macbeth journeyed to his murderous doom through his own free choice.

Decisions you make can lead to the  death of innocent people. In William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, examines the elements of fate and free will by the actions of others lead to the bloodshed of the innocent people in the play such as Banquo, Duncan and Lady Macduff and her child. Consequently even though Macduff's actions are for the greater good to stopping Macbeth,  it comes at the ultimate cost of the life of his wife and child.

Fate is one person's destiny, it cannot be understood by mere mortals but a greater power beyond human comprehension. Fate is so powerful that it controls a person's outcome on life before it happens. Many people become victims of fate in which they catch a glimpse of what their future is going to look like, but do not totally grasp the outcome. Macbeth cannot fully comprehend the possible outcome of his fate because he is mortal, and therefore is a victim to his power driven quest and his ultimate fate. Many have been said to agree with this statement. For example, as stated in Shakespeare A to Z, "The Witches are an enactment of the irrational. The supernatural world if terrifying because it is beyond human control, and in the play it is

In Shakespeare’s Tragedy Macbeth, it is very debatable if fate, or freewill is what causes Macbeth to do the things he does through out the tragedy. Freewill is at work most through out the tragedy because Macbeth is convinced he can change or speed up the fate the three weird sisters prophesized for him at his own will. Throughout the play, Macbeth slowly begins to think he can modify his fate by using the prophecies told to Macbeth by the weird sisters and attempting to change them by his free will.

Fate always plays a dangerously important role in the lives of men, and knowing their destinies can make people do things that may be good or bad. Although Macbeth was a good general, fighting with the interest of protecting his country from invaders, his destiny forbade it and he was changed into cold, heartless tyrant. Even when he tried to resist his fate, the very thing he did, was what caused his death in the end. This illustrates the unsurmountable power of fate and the path set out for us. We can’t avoid it, and no matter what we do , we are always drawn back to what was meant to be. Often, this is what causes people to do unnatural (bad) things out of desperation.

In the play Macbeth, we see an innocent man who is also recognized as a great warrior and hero, till the witches appeared and we begin to see changes in his behavior. When the witches’ prophecies comes true, you begin to wonder, was it the witches’ doing in causing Macbeth’s downfall or was it Macbeth’s own choice that he made himself? Macbeth shows a few signs of it being him that’s making those decisions. In the five acts we see a transition between fate and free will and both seem to act on each other throughout the play.

When the three witches delivered the prophecies in the first act they hailed Macbeth is “Thane of Cawdor”, “Thane of Glamis”, and also claimed that shall soon become king. While Macbeth is bewildered and

Yet after his encounter with the witches, his mind was going back and forth trying to figure out how he should act upon the prophecy of becoming king! It was by then that the idea of fate had been planted into his head, and with such good title to come with it, why wouldn’t he want to believe his ‘fate’? Something that I found very interesting about the witches was that looking closely at line 24-25 when one of the witches says, "Though his bark cannot be lost, yet it shall be tempest-tossed." From what I seemed to understand, these lines seemed to really show the limitations to the witches’ powers, because they were basically saying that they could only make life rough for the clueless captain, but they could not kill him. I think that this is really important to all the people who thought that the witches had ‘written out’ Macbeth’s fate because in the same way as the previous stated scene they can tempt Macbeth with predictions about his future, but they cannot make him choose evil. Meaning that in this scene, one of the conflicts is obviously fate vs. free will! All the witches really did was find a way of stirring up evil, by tempting Macbeth into choosing to opt for evil instead of good. “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir.” (Act 1. Scene iii. Line 10). Here, Macbeth seems content to leave his future to "chance." If "chance" will have

Most of the big events of this play are influenced by Macbeth’s knowledge of the prophecies and whether these are true or not, they end up affecting the way he makes decisions. The previous example, where Macbeth has horrible visions, clearly shows how knowing the prophecy creates horrible images in Macbeth’s mind, but there are many other examples. For instance in act III Macbeth decides to kill his friend Banquo and his son because a prophecy said his children would be kings. Because of Macbeth knowing the prophecy he takes harsh action. Another example we see is in the second meeting with the witches, where apparitions speak to Macbeth. These say that no man born of a woman shall harm him, that only when the Birnam forest rises to his kingdom he will be vanquished, and one tells him to be weary of Macduff; resulting in a surge of over confidence that leads Macbeth to oversee what the phrases mean, but also to leads him to be reckless in his decision making because he loses all fear, resulting in his demise. Macbeth is quick to take action after hearing out the witches and says, “Time, thou anticipat’st my dread exploits./ The flighty purpose never is o’ertook/ Unless the deed go with it. From this moment/The very firstlings of my heart shall be/ The very firstlings of my hand” (4.1.145-149). There are still some examples of free will and being able