Preview

Fate in Macbeth, Julius Caesar and Hamlet

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
291 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Fate in Macbeth, Julius Caesar and Hamlet
Shakespeare utilizes the supernatural and fate to pave the destiny of some of his characters in his tragedies. Macbeth, Julius Caesar, and Hamlet appear to have a common novel theme of fate, betrayal to supremacy, and the struggle to restore providential power. Shakespeare uses rhetoric to effectively convey the idea of fate and the struggle against it. In all three of these Shakespearian tragedies characters encounter the emotion of disbelief and the struggle to seek refuge from fate and to ultimately live life as if it were their free will.
In Macbeth and Hamlet, Shakespeare appears to use apparitions early in the play to effectively establish mysteriousness of the paths of these characters. By using apparitions Shakespeare clearly makes a distinction of the supernatural and reality. In these moments of these confrontations Shakespeare successfully establishes Hamlet and Macbeth’s mortality and their inevitability to succumbing to their fate. But were Hamlet and Macbeth actually doomed right away or were they in a situation where poor choices caused their downfall? H.B. Charlton thinks that Hamlet being that type of man he is, fails to kill Claudius right after King Hamlet has been murdered causing him to succumb to his fate (83). Also Julius Caesar and Duncan’s ghost appear in their plays.
In each of these tragedies the main character has one emotion when he encounters fate, disbelief. Disbelief in the potential of the fore warnings and foreshadowing of his fate. And disbelief when fate has ultimately become reality. There is probably no better example of this in Shakespearian work than Cassius’s comment to Brutus,“Men at sometime were masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings”

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In William Shakespeare’s play, “Macbeth”, one dominant moral is made clear to the audience, do not tempt fate, let nature take its course. Some of the ways that Shakespeare achieves this is through the development of conflicts in the plot and also through dialogue, vivid imagery and metaphors created by the atmosphere in the play. The characters develop in the early acts to identify the protagonist and antagonists to the audience. The characters contribute rhetoric that reveals the disturbing of Shakespeare’s theory of the Great Chain of Being, the natural course of order.…

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fate is more significant in determining Macbeth’s course, who is the main character of the play “Macbeth” which was written by Shakespeare. The following phrases said respectively by the second witch and the third witch: “ All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!” “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” are clearly examples of fate determining Macbeth's course. These two phrases of Act 1, Scene 3 said by the witches suggest a prophecy, which says that Macbeth shall become the Thane of Cawdor and later on, he shall become the King of Scotland. Another example of fate determining Macbeth's course occurs when Macbeth is killed by MacDuff, the Thane of Fife. The witches in Act 4, Scene 1 told Macbeth a prophecy, which is: “Beware…

    • 238 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Shakespeare’s masterpiece of a play, ‘Macbeth’, carefully depicts that Macbeth’s character was not ruined by fate but rather by damaging errors in his personality. Macbeth’s dangerous quality of ambition brings about his downfall as well as his treachery against his king, his tyranny and also his imaginativeness that eventually lures him into the murder. Although Shakespeare suggests that Macbeth’s decisions were greatly influenced by other characters in his text, it was Macbeth that ultimately decided to listen to these influences due to the many faults in his character.…

    • 88 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fate has led many lives of heroes for them to gain courage and honor. They believe in this so they can have something to believe and look upon for the decisions of their lives. In Macbeth he was told his fate and he lived up to it taking his throne as king and then coming to an end by whom fate told. Also in the poem The Pardoners Tale the three drunk men were chasing after death and got caught up in greed which took their lives. Finally in Sir Gawain, Sir Gawain was driven by fate for his life going on a quest to find something to save him from the Green Knight. Fate still has a huge impact on many people…

    • 631 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth Fate Quotes

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages

    It is said that fate does not choose it’s own victims, but it’s victims choose their own fate. In the tragedy Hamlet by Shakespeare, it is evident that the tragic hero, Macbeth, chooses his own fate and creates his own downfall. With greed, hubris and mistrust, Macbeth chooses and shapes his own destiny. Macbeth’s greed for power leads to the mistrust of those around him and in the end forms his fatal downfall. If the evil inside Macbeth was not to have overtaken the good, his ending may have concluded otherwise.…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For this assignment I will be describing the story Macbeth, and if it is a tragedy of fate…

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, the reader is left to ponder the question of whether fate or free will is responsible for Macbeth's actions. Some people believe that the three sisters control Macbeth's fate and that he is as much a victim as King Duncan and his grooms, while others believe that Macbeth, alone, is responsible for his actions. Although fate has a part in Macbeth's decisions, the story is a tragedy of character. The witches prophesy that Macbeth will someday be king and Lady Macbeth rouses his hidden aspirations and desires, but it is Macbeth's ambition that gives rise to the poor decisions he makes to fulfill the prophecy.…

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Macbeth, the famous play written by Shakespeare, has a numerous amount of factors that contribute to the untimely fate of Macbeth. Hecate, the Greek Goddess of sorcery, crossroads, ghosts, and necromancy, scolded the three witches for spoiling Macbeth’s fate by telling him the path he was eventually going to end up taking. Insinuating that they knew his fate, they told him that he would become Thane of Cawdor and continue on to gain the title of king. Macbeth’s murdering of the king was the path that he was always going to take-- it was his fate.…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth is about the collapse of the man led by ambition of himself who had honor and power before. The scenes playing in the 11th century Scotland. During the play, Macbeth deals with his ambition and fate, also his people around. As the play goes on, we see the pattern that fate versus free will pretty much of the scenes and words of characters.…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fated events are like immovable points on a graph. On the other hand, there are many functions that can intersect the point, yet fate does not predetermine which function is graphed, that is chosen by the free will of a person. In the Jacobean tragedy, Macbeth, by Shakespeare, Macbeth is given his fate by a group of duplicitous witches. Macbeth is informed he would become king, but Macbeth’s irresistable want for the crown, and the influences of his wife is the beginning of Macbeth’s path of blood. Even with free will Macbeth loses control when emotions and influences control his decisions.…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Macbeth

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the era of Macbeth, many of the beliefs were based upon fate. It was a major part of the culture and how everything happens for a reason. In this play by Shakespeare, fate is corrupted by the main character Macbeth; this corruption unbalances the universe. Macbeth provides an example of contradicting the beliefs in this time frame, eventually fate restores the kingdom and the universe balances out. “Tragedy, according to Aristotle, involves usually a noble man fighting against his fate which lies in the hands of God” ( Jean-François Vernay. Literary Contexts in Plays: William Shakespeare 's 'Macbeth '). According to this quote by Vernay, it relates to Macbeth and all the other Shakespearean tragedies. In Macbeth, the main character was a noble man in the beginning and does fight against his fate. At first he tries to make his fate come faster and then later Macbeth tries to contradict it. While, it was really planned out for him the whole time. Macbeth is corrupted by power, causing him to make decisions that interfere with fate, in which witches tell Macbeth he is destined to be king; however, Malcolm is the one who is next in line. Macbeth does anything he can to get the crown which leads to chaos in the kingdom. He kills anyone who is in his way which causes the whole creation of unbalance, arrogance and power corrupts his mind, and once Macbeth is killed the kingdom is restored.…

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tragedy builds, as hero endures calamity and faces fate. The hero's fate is determined by the existence of moral order. Therefore, to restore the mortal order in a tragic world, one must go through struggle between good and evil. According to Bradley, the tragic hero with Shakespeare is generally good and therefore at once wins sympathy in his error; but the hero's imperfection or defects are considered evil and they contribute to the conflict and catastrophe. When the evil in him masters the good and has its way, it destroys other people and ultimately destroys him. The pity and fear, which are stirred by the tragic story, unites with profound sense of sadness and mystery gives impression of waste, and this impression of waste makes us realize the worth of that is wasted.…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the prologue, it is revealed that both of the main characters will soon die. Shakespeare uses fate as the driving force behind how and why the star crossed lovers are doomed to their untimely deaths. Fate is also used to develop the characters in the play. For example, Romeo is portrayed as a brash, daring, and foolish young man because of his constant tries to defy his unescapable fate, in Act Five Scene One (yes, I read ahead ) he announces “Then I defy you stars!” when he is made to think Juliet is dead and plans to kill himself. Fate, along with dramatic irony, creates tension in the play because we learned what fate has decided in the end from the prologue, but the characters in the play do not, and in that constant struggle of trying to escape fate, there is tension created. An example of the tension is when completely by chance the Capulets servant approaches Romeo and Benvolio to invite them to the party where he will meet Juliet and begin the trail to his…

    • 1398 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In fiction, generally fate is unavoidable. Fate comes true and is impossible to escape, even if protagonists of plays and books believe that they are acting on free will. Though a character may think that he or she can outsmart a prophecy, their free will is part of their fate. In both Macbeth and Oedipus the King, prophecies came true, as they were always true ahead of time. Macbeth and Oedipus both think that they were escaping their fate and downfall by avoiding the prophecies and acting on their own free will, but in doing so, their fate becomes true and occurs in what they discover to be self-fulfilling prophecies. Fate is the direct cause for Oedipus and Macbeth to fall, due to how the prophecies cause both Oedipus and Macbeth to change their normal course of actions and behave differently from most people, in order to fulfill their prophecies, and, after discovering that their fate became true, they both recognize that their perceived free will was indeed false and blame who made the fates and told them the prophecies that caused the fates to occur.…

    • 1084 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Othello Act 3 Scene 3

    • 438 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Also, Shakespeare uses the technique of foreshadowing… Desdemona’s lines at the beginning of the scene are prophetic: “thy solicitor shall rather die / Than give thy cause away.” (27-8) This reminds the audience / reader that this play is in fact a tragedy alluding to the idea that most characters are bound to fall. Furthermore, Othello says “Perdition catch my soul… / Chaos is come again” (90-2) there is an element of prophecy in this statement, as, metaphorically, damnation will soon catch…

    • 438 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays