Free Will In Macbeth

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

   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

Throughout the story of Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, Macbeth acts in a much despised manner: he becomes a murderer and later, when king of Scotland, a tyrant. Many who have read or seen the play are left wondering how a man’s whole approach to life can change; how Macbeth turned from the hero whom all adored, to the tyrant who was hated and ended up a lone man, fighting for his life.

The bloody rise and tragic downfall of Macbeth’s power in medieval Scotland is the outcome of a prophecy told by three Witches who foretold Macbeth’s rise to power. Throughout the play, Shakespeare suggests that immoral actions come from the loss of moral boundaries and outside influences. He also illustrates that corrupt actions come from greed and can stain one’s conscience with guilt.

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

The definition of responsibility is being accountable for something within one’s control, thus people are “the designer of my [their] own catastrophy” - Unknown. Similarly in Macbeth, the supernatural is held accountable for Macbeth’s actions, despite the fact that Macbeth is responsible for what he has done. This is because people have the free will to make their own choices, and the actions chosen are driven by their own desires. Accordingly, the supernatural should not be blamed for the actions of others, as people are responsible for their own fate.

William Shakespeare 's haunting and ominous play The Tragedy of Macbeth offers many topics of discussion and debate about human nature such as fate versus free will. This plays a rather large role in the story. However. even though this story seems to be of a pre-destined nature everyone always has the freedom of choice and control over oneself 's thoughts and actions. In this story Macbeth chose his fate.

Originally derived from the Greek Goddesses Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, fate is believed to be something that no mortal power can change while free-will is completely up to oneself. The story of Macbeth by Shakespeare focuses on the aspect of fate and how free-will affects that. The main character, Macbeth, gets numerous prophecies throughout the story that are described to be his fate. On the other hand, how he fulfills the prophecies are solely up to him. Shakespeare utilizes the prophecies told by the three witches as an initiative to Macbeth’s actions, for the prophecies are Macbeth’s fate but his actions are based on free-will which illustrates that fate influences the decisions made through free-will.

TO WHAT EXTENT IS MACBETH RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MURDER OF KING DUNCAN How much would one expect a manipulated, over ambitious, loyal Thane to be responsible for the murder of his beloved King who gave him the title Thane of Glamis? In the 16th century, being granted a title like the Thane brought great honour to your family. How can a brave and loyal knight, who has been granted this honourable title take full responsibility to murdering his beloved king? This essay will be discussing the aspects of how much the tragic hero, Macbeth, is responsible for the murder of King Duncan. The main aspects that will be analyzed in this essay is the paradox, fate vs free will.

Macbeth Literary Analysis Indian leader Jawaharlal Nehru says, “Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will.” The way you do things and what you choose is free will. Free will and fate is shown throughout William Shakespeares’ Macbetth while Macbeth is on a killing spree and thinks that is all due to his fate in the beginning of the play and by the end thinks it is free will.

In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Macbeth is fated by supernatural forces, the three witches, to fulfill a prophecy. Macbeth struggles with his desire for power and belief in the witches’ prophecy, which leads him to ignore the choice of free will and follow his fate, despite immense guilt and self doubt. Macbeth also lives with a fatal flaw, which leads to his eventual destruction. These qualities lead the reader to believe that Macbeth is a tragic hero, who gained vast amounts of power only to continuously lust for greater control, which in the end gets him killed. Macbeth stumbles upon the witches, who speak in riddles in order to tell him his fate.

When a baby is born, the parents will make all the decisions on how to take care of him or her until they become an adult. Then the adult will have his own conscience and decide everything on his own or sometimes have others implicating his own decisions. In the play Macbeth, Macbeth’s downfall was his own free will because he could had change his fate instead he left his decisions based off from Lady Macbeth and the witches.

So the important question is do we determine what happens to us (free will) or is everything is predetermined (destiny)? Do you make your own choices or do you let life happen as it is? You always hear people talk about them being “destined to be with this person” or they “are destined to do this or be this or even do this career”. If we do not make certain choices we will never become anything so how is that destiny? Even if there is a such thing as destiny, we have the free will to change it.

Do humans have free will or are they influenced by greater forces beyond their control? In these three works, Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Macbeth by William Shakespeare, and Censors by Luisa Valenzuela the subject of free will is addressed. Oedipus in the play by Sophocles tries to run away from fate, instead, he ends up being doomed. Macbeth in the play by William Shakespeare gets manipulated by the prophecy, then sacrifices values and free will for his ambition. In the short story by Luisa Valenzuela, Juan tries to flout the policy by getting a job as a censor so he could intercept his own mail, which results in him being executed. These characters portray how free will is quixotic and how their fate is irreversible.

The book Macbeth by William Shakespeare is about a man in Scotland who after hearing a prophecy from three witches decides to kill the king of Scotland in order to become the king. Macbeth becomes the king of Scotland after he kills King Duncan who is the previous king. After he does this, he goes on a killing spree and kills many other people. Since Macbeth kills so many people, many people do not like Macbeth, two of which are Macduff and Malcolm. These two have had their family killed and seek revenge on Macbeth. To do this, they build an army from England and fight Macbeth eventually leading to Macbeth’s death. During this time of death and fighting, Macbeth exercises freewill by choosing to kill Banquo, follow the witches’ prophecy, and to kill King Duncan.