Fate In Macbeth Research Paper
Jed McGill
December 2012
English IV H
Mrs. Grimaldi
The Unfortunate Fate of Macbeth
Fate, in the classical sense, is something that will, unquestionably, happen at some point in the future. Macbeth’s fate is told to him by three witches early on in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, putting the plot in motion. Chiefly among these is that Macbeth will be king by the end of the play. This does indeed happen, as do the rest of the fates told, save one. The question, then, is this: is this fate fulfilled in events occurring after the play’s conclusion? The answer has to do with fate, free will, and truthfulness. Fate is something that must happen and is a prediction of free will, but those telling it are not always necessarily telling it truthfully. …show more content…
They tell him that, “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none” (I.iii.68), meaning that his son will be the first in a line of kings. At the conclusion of the play, Macbeth has tried to have Banquo and his son, Fleance, murdered, but Fleance survived, and Malcolm is the king of Scotland. The fact that Fleance is not king at the end of the play may cause confusion to the reader, as Shakespeare quite possibly intended, leading them to doubt that fate exists in Macbeth, which is, of course, untrue. This leaves two possible scenarios. The most common one is that Malcolm, along with any other direct descendants of King Duncan, will die, leaving the throne open to Fleance. The manner in which the deaths occur is irrelevant, be it battle, an accident, old age, or otherwise. The alternative is that the witches were simply lying about that one part. The witches are, presumably, humans with supernatural powers and are therefore capable of lies. It is readily apparent that they wish to cause mischief in the affairs of ordinary humans and that they know of Macbeth’s ambition. There is no reason why the witches couldn’t have made that part up with the intention of getting Macbeth to kill his own best friend for their amusement, leaving Fleance without a
December 2012
English IV H
Mrs. Grimaldi
The Unfortunate Fate of Macbeth
Fate, in the classical sense, is something that will, unquestionably, happen at some point in the future. Macbeth’s fate is told to him by three witches early on in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, putting the plot in motion. Chiefly among these is that Macbeth will be king by the end of the play. This does indeed happen, as do the rest of the fates told, save one. The question, then, is this: is this fate fulfilled in events occurring after the play’s conclusion? The answer has to do with fate, free will, and truthfulness. Fate is something that must happen and is a prediction of free will, but those telling it are not always necessarily telling it truthfully. …show more content…
They tell him that, “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none” (I.iii.68), meaning that his son will be the first in a line of kings. At the conclusion of the play, Macbeth has tried to have Banquo and his son, Fleance, murdered, but Fleance survived, and Malcolm is the king of Scotland. The fact that Fleance is not king at the end of the play may cause confusion to the reader, as Shakespeare quite possibly intended, leading them to doubt that fate exists in Macbeth, which is, of course, untrue. This leaves two possible scenarios. The most common one is that Malcolm, along with any other direct descendants of King Duncan, will die, leaving the throne open to Fleance. The manner in which the deaths occur is irrelevant, be it battle, an accident, old age, or otherwise. The alternative is that the witches were simply lying about that one part. The witches are, presumably, humans with supernatural powers and are therefore capable of lies. It is readily apparent that they wish to cause mischief in the affairs of ordinary humans and that they know of Macbeth’s ambition. There is no reason why the witches couldn’t have made that part up with the intention of getting Macbeth to kill his own best friend for their amusement, leaving Fleance without a