Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The Choices MacBeth Made That Decided His Own Fate

After he had attained his destiny, Macbeth felt that Banquo would become a serious threat. He did not like the fact that Banquo was destined to be a father to a whole line of kings. "Our fears in Banquo stick deep, and in his royalty of nature reigns that which would be feared...If `t be so, for Banquo's issue have I filed my mind; for them the gracious Duncan have I murdered..."(85). The path Macbeth chooses to take in order to stay at the throne was to have Banquo killed. But, Macbeth was never destined to kill anyone. Killing Duncan, Banquo and Macduff's whole household were all his decisions to attain his destiny.

His true characteristics are shown through this aside, as he talks to himself about killing the king of Scotland. Macbeth’s ambition for power is starting slowly. This ambition reveals Macbeth’s real characteristic of greed. Already, just after hearing a prophecy from witches that cannot be trusted, he believes that his prophecy will come true and takes fate into his own hands. Although Macbeth only thinks about murder, this is a sign of foreshadowing of what happens in the play. Shakespeare uses foreshadowing to hint or to give clues to the future. As Macbeth fantasizes about murder, his true intentions are truly shown. Also, the use of foreshadowing reveals Macbeth’s ambition for power in the future. Macbeth’s thirst for power slowly begins as his ambition

Banquo’s ambition is unlike Macbeths and Lady Macbeths, his ambition does not drive him to kill. His ambition is he wants his son to become king, and he wants his son’s son to become king and so on. He does not quite know how to make his ambition successful but he knows that it is not worth killing for. Macbeth becomes jealous of Banquo’s ambition and Macbeths ambition drives him tell people to kill Banquo.

Duncan is a guest in his home at the time and he realizes how substantial this is. Macbeth decides to commit the murder of King Duncan who was once a dear friend of his. As a result of this murder Macbeth decides that his main goal is to become king and he will take all necessary actions to get there. Macbeth’s final despicable act was the murder of Banquo because he became suspicious of Macbeth. Our fears in Banquo Stick deep; and in his royalty of nature Reigns that which would be fear'd: 'tis much he dares; And, to that dauntless temper of his mind, he hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour to act in safety.

In the Elizabethan Era, society was highly suspicious of the power of supernatural forces and it was commonly accepted that one’s life was governed by fate and was predetermined. Shakespeare’s Macbeth challenges the Elizabethan ideology of fate by privileging that although Macbeth was a victim of his “vaulting ambition” (1:VII 27), he was ultimately responsible for his villainous actions. Shakespeare has foregounded certain events to privilege that a person has free will and a concience and the cosequences of going against one's conscience, thus challenging the assumption of the Elizabethan Era. The audience is invited to sympathise with the protagonist, Macbeth, and see him as a tragic hero. Before his descent into evil, Macbeth

Macbeth went to all lengths to maintain his power. Macbeth decided that Banquo, his comrade in battle and his best friend had to be killed. Macbeth stated in his soliloquy, “Our fears in Banquo stick deep, and in his royalty of nature/Reigns that which would be feared” (3.1.53-55). Macbeth abused the power he had because of his paranoia that others were after his position of power. Macbeth showed that he was willing to do anything even killing Banquo, whose intentions were to have Macbeth’s best interest. Macbeth saw Banquo as a threat because of the prophecy that his son’s will become king. Macbeth acted on his feelings instantly about Banquo and didn’t think it through clearly. Macbeth let his paranoia of losing his powers to get the best of him because he killed someone who was close to him and wanted what was best for him.

Free will is a gift that everyone is born with, but what people do with it can determine our fate. In Macbeth, Macbeth is a perfectionist who believes that he has a deal with fate, which is that it will give him a good life if his choices in life are for good, and this deal makes his life driven by free will to make sure that his fate treats him well. Macbeth violates his own deal and has a physiological crisis, causing him to gain violent tendencies. He is overwhelmed with fear and self-hate after realizing that he broke the deal. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Macbeth receives his prophecy from the witches, which he sees as a contract with fate to himself, which he signs, leading to his ambition growing.

One of these prophecies is the main driving factors towards violence throughout the play. The witches tell Macbeth that he will be King. And although at first he may be skeptical the witches say a couple more things that start to impel Macbeth towards the witch's fate. Those two things they say are, “Fair is foul, foul is fair” and, “All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King hereafter!...’’. The first quote the witches are telling Macbeth that killing Macbeth is civil and playing the civil way is wicked. Basically all in all, they are saying killing Macbeth is the right thing to do. In the second quote the third witch says that Macbeth will be the king, that is fate. Although these things the witches say do not persuade Macbeth to kill King Duncan, they get him thinking. These prophecies end up getting to the ear of Lady Macbeth and give her the leverage to manipulate Macbeth and the ideas to come up with this plan to kill King Duncan. Once she starts manipulating Macbeth he does not directly tell her no because the witches gave him this ideology that he should be king and that it is fate for that to happen. Lastly the witches bring this presence through the scenes of killing the king of pure evil that leads Macbeth into King Duncan's room and he leads him to Murder Duncan. The evil overtakes him and causes him to do

(III: i: 58-74) After becoming king, Macbeth starts to think about what the witches said to Banquo and he starts to fear that something might happen to him. By believing so, Macbeth feels that it is necessary to kill Banquo in order to keep the throne. He even states that he fears Banquo and that if his children became kings, everything he did would have been a waste. By killing Banquo, Macbeth then faces the consequences for his actions and starts to suffer due to that. After going out with his plan to kill Banquo, Macbeth then starts to hallucinate.

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth is a tragedy about a war hero named Macbeth, who follows his ambition with evil and who is repaid with evil. He is responsible for his own demise although only to a certain extent. There were many other factors that contributed to the tragic that could have been avoided - for example how the witches’ predictions are responsible for influencing Macbeth’s thoughts although ultimately no one told Macbeth to kill Duncan. Lady Macbeth was also a very influential character which manipulated Macbeth into doing bad deeds however he is responsible for putting power into the hands of Lady Macbeth and letting her influence him. Finally, Macbeth acknowledges his guilt of wrongdoing and is thereby responsible for his

He attempted to bury the past by killing more and more people to try to cover up that he was the one who killed Duncan. Once Banquo started getting suspicious of Macbeth, he decided to kill him. “But to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo/ Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature/ Reigns that which would be fear’d. ‘Tis must he dares/ And, to that dauntless temper of his mind” (III.i.52-54). Macbeth fears Banquo because he was starting to realize that Macbeth was the one to kill Duncan, and because of this he decided to kill Banquo. Macbeth committed over nine murders throughout the play, all revolving around the fact that he let others manipulate him.

Throughout the play “Macbeth” Shakespeare uses multiple examples of strong diction, paradox, metaphors, and imagery to demonstrate the theme that fate is inevitable. These examples also help emphasize that the witches are in control of Macbeth's severe and hostile actions throughout the tragic play. Without the witches prophecies the idea of murder would have never crossed Macbeth’s mind. After the witches informed Macbeth that he would soon become king he was willed to do anything to make sure this bizarre prophecy would come true.

The prophecies understood by the witches are the basis for Macbeth’s weakness of insecurity and in turn is one of the flaws which contribute to his downfall.

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

After the murder of Duncan, Macbeth is titled the King of Scotland. Having Macbeth murder Duncan to become King makes it seem to Macbeth that he can control his own fate. This only makes it worse for Macbeth, because it is now engraved in his mind that murder can change fate. Now that Duncan is taken care of, it is Banquo that Macbeth is worried about, for Macbeth is convinced that Banquo knows too much because he was the only other person with him when the witches prophesized his fate. It’s not only Banquo that Macbeth wants to murder, he also wants to change the prophecy of Banquo’s descendants becoming Kings by murdering them as well, as he states “To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!;/ Rather than so, come fate into the list,;/ And champion me to th’ utterance.” (III, I, 70-73). This line directly shows that Macbeth now thinks he is in control, and that he can challenge fate by murdering the sons of Banquo to change what the witch’s prophesized for the descendants of Banquo to become kings.