William Shakespeare 's Macbeth : The Tragedy Of Fate Or Free Will

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

A self-fulfilling prophecy is a statement that alters one’s actions and evokes a behavior from a person/character which makes the originally false statement come true (Wisegeek). For example, one might say, “Today is going to be a great day!” Which will alter a persons actions in a way that will actually make this prediction come true. William Shakespeare’s, The Tragedy of Macbeth, uses self-fulfilling prophecy in a subtle yet foreshadowing way to prepare and unfurl the thoughts and actions of his characters. This tragedy, written in the early 1600’s, was composed mainly to appeal new interests around London. It is a depiction of a noble, along with his wife, who brutally slaughters a King and his kinsman so that he may be the King

   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.

Fate has sundry meanings. One of the meanings of fate: power that predetermines events. Destiny’s definition suggests that events will occur and do not change. Whatever unravels in life cannot change by mankind. The statement has undivulged meanings; fate has the opportunity to change if the person wants events to end differently. However, wrong decisions will only seal fate. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, The fate becomes confirmed through Lady Macbeth wanting more power, Macbeth’s inner conflict, and the three witches tricking Macbeth and leading him to his demise.

- which attributes his actions to ambition, both his and Lady Macbeth's, alone. While it is also possible to interpret fate as guiding Macbeth's decision supernaturally, as when he envisions a dagger that ‘…Marshal'st me the way that I was going' (2.1.42-44), this is just as easily interpreted as being Macbeth's often imaginative decision making process. Furthermore the guilt that Macbeth feels after the murder indicates that even he finds himself, and not an irresistible force of fate, responsible for Duncan's murder, which precedes and is largely responsible for his own death.

In many stories fate is said to determine the paths that people lead in their lives. However, even though some events can seem like fate to the people experiencing them, these people always made their own decisions that led to them. Although some of the events in the tragedy Macbeth by William Shakespeare may lead readers to believe that fate determined many of Macbeth’s actions, the truth is that Macbeth made all of the decisions in the story through his own free will.

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.

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.

First off, Macbeth encounters the witches and gets a sense of his future of having power as a king. That information gives off a craving for his deepest desire and it influences his actions to deliberately make his future come true. (http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/does-macbeth-have-free-will-his-actions-why-why-336). But if fate is in control of him then fate would have make it come to him instead of Macbeth doing all the work. He even pondered himself that “if chance will have me king/why chance may crown me without my stir.” (1.3. 156-158). But after, it was clearly seen that his actions were not with his destiny. All the wrong deed that he has done is his fault. It should be himself to blame not Lady Macbeth’s strong persuasion when he decided that “I am settled, and bend up/each corporal agent to this terrible feat.” (1.7. 89-90). He had a long soliloquy about his rights and wrongs if he did this crime. If fate was behind his actions in this murder than why does he still kill King Duncan if he knew his consequences? To that scene

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