Free Will In Macbeth

   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.

Bradyn Lowrey Mrs. Pitts CP English 10 11 March 2024 Macbeth’s Free Will Free will was the wings that carried Macbeth down his spiral. Macbeth was the main character in Shakespeare’s story Macbeth. A prophecy said that he would be king, he would encounter murder, and lead to death. Free will fueled Macbeth’s actions after learning of the prophecy that would make him a corrupt king whose ambition led to his downfall, proving the theme that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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

Free will or fate, which rules the future? Fate by definition is the development of events beyond a person’s control. Free will is the ability to act on one’s own discretion. In Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth. Macbeth’s free will means he makes his own poor choices that leads to his downfall.

Macbeth had a decision to be appreciative of what he has and not take any further action but later gets the ambition to kill to be even more powerful. Furthermore, once Macbeth becomes king; his obsession to keep the throne causes him to go on a murderous rampage. The free will of doing what he desires, which is being obsessed enough to stay king, causes him to kill for that obsession. The most important factor that shapes our fate or destiny is, in fact, the decisions that we make at the turning points in our lives. Since Macbeth has only one desire, more power.

One way Macbeth used his free will was when he killed King Duncan. He did not have to kill Duncan, he was already crowned Thane of Crawdor, but his greed and his desires of power pushed him to do it. He contemplated consistently on the thought

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.

It is a characteristic of individuals to have a desire for wealth. This demonstration of avarice brings individuals to a downfall. Like different characters, this same experience occurs in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth. The witches and Lady Macbeth have an essential part in the play, they control Macbeth and his activities, however it is his decision to acknowledge the supposition of others. He is mindful of the moves he makes.

Ayn Rand, a Russian-American philosopher have quoted that “[m]an is a being with free will; therefore, each man is potentially good or evil, and it’s up to him and only him (through his reasoning mind) to decide which he wants to be”(Rand). In the play Macbeth, the main character, Macbeth, have been praised for the good man he was, but still betrayed those who praised him with his own will. He was a great man with a great mind, however, not until the words of him becoming king came out of the weird sisters, which are also known as the three witches who predicted and told Macbeth that he will be king, and have made him have second thoughts on whether to kill the king to be king or not. In Macbeth, William Shakespeare suggests that human beings

The main instance of Macbeth’s free will being shown is in his murder of Duncan, to become king. Macbeth heard the prophecy from the Weird Sisters that he was to be king and immediately began to plan the murder of the present king. Many would scoff at hearing such a claim, but Macbeth used it as justification for murder. It was clear that being King was something that Macbeth desired, and would do anything to achieve it. It became impossible to tell if Macbeth becoming King was as a result of fate, because he took the matters into his own hands. Right after hearing the prophecy, the first thing Macbeth does is write a letter to Lady Macbeth telling her of his plan. He did not let the statements run their course. Macbeth and his wife planned out the actions necessary for Macbeth to become king. He may have eventually become King if he never did anything, but there is no way of knowing what would have happened.

A pile of cards or even a flip of a coin can decide one of the most important choices of a person's life. For some, this choice is only for the moment, for others it will impact them for the rest of their lives. This is no exception for the Scottish play, Macbeth, by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare basing his stories often on events that even occurred well before Shakespearian time is somewhat hard to fathom, but this is not the only aspect that influenced that story of Macbeth, Shakespeare also is influenced by the current rulers of the time for Macbeth, this was King James the first a strong believer in witchcraft. This brings forth a pivotal set of characters that aid the main theme and also driving force for most of Macbeth, fate.

In Macbeth, Shakespeare presents a theme of free choice dictating the path life follows, rather than predestination or fate. This concept is highlighted in fall of Macbeth and his wife from greatness, dignity, and, of course, the cliché grace. Macbeth’s descent from a respected thane of Scotland to a power hungry, bloodthirsty maniac may seem to be completely orchestrated by the witches; however, though the witches may play a hand in starting Macbeth down this dark path, a closer look shows that what ensues falls solely up to Macbeth. The witches’ prophecies have a tendency towards classically self-fulfilling. Without their promise that Macbeth would one day become king, Macbeth would never have dreamed of killing anyone off of the battlefield; however, the witches never once mentioned murder.

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.

Shakespeare presents Macbeth to be overly obsessed with fate and free will to the point that he becomes delusional. Blinded by the half truths that the witches prophecies he tries to master fate which may be the reason for his downfall. At the start of this extract, Shakespeare presents Macbeth to believe that he was fated to this outcome as he states in his soliloquy “To-morrow and to-morrow and, to-morrow creeps in this petty pace”. The syndetic listing slows down the pace of the extract, which highlights how Macbeth feels about the length of the days that are coming due to the death of Lady Macbeth, which could also convey how subconsciously Macbeth was deeply grieving and felt that the world stopped. Due to this, he had lost his will to