Role Of Fate In Macbeth
Macbeth
Many types of people exist in this world. A majority of those people believe in either free will or fate/destiny. All of these people make their own decisions, but how? Who tells them what to do? Or do they decide on their own? Whether or not fate actually exists is something some people spend their entire lives searching for. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the Weird Sisters act as agents of fate to show Macbeth the path he is meant to take and they succeed in manipulating him with their prophecies.
At first, Macbeth is wary of the Weird Sisters and their prophecies. He wants to believe them, certainly, but he cannot trust the prediction. But after he discovers that the first part of the Sisters prophecy has come true, …show more content…
him becoming Thane of Cawdor, he begins to believe that he will be king. However, he hides this newfound glimmer of hope for himself from all those but his wife, who was quite possibly the worst person he could have told. But he soon finds obstacles when Duncan names Malcolm as his heir. After discovering this fact, Macbeth exclaims: "Oh Prince of Cumberland! That is a step/ on which I must fall down o 'erleap,/ for in my way it lies" (1.4.55-57). This begins Macbeth 's decision to kill Duncan so he can become king, although the Weird Sisters never specified how he was to become king. They never once told him that he had to kill Duncan; he chooses to. Macbeth makes the choice to become king by killing Duncan. That does not, however, change the fact that Macbeth would not have even begun to think of being king without speaking to the witches. Like Cumberland Clark said in his book Shakespeare and the Supernatural, "Man still retained the gift of free-will; he would not be deprived of life, only lured to self destruction (83). Macbeth made his own choice but only because he was told what would/could be by the Weird Sisters. Fate is what drives Macbeth into all the situations he finds himself. Yet he refuses to admit to anyone that he has been affected by the prophecies. When confronted by Banquo about how each of the prophecies of the Weird Sisters has come true after Macbeth is crowned the new king of Scotland, Macbeth denies even thinking about the predictions and claims he forgot about them almost completely.
Throughout the majority of the play, Macbeth makes decisions.
While they are not always the best choices he could make, these decisions tend to always be based on a main piece of information: The prophecies told to Macbeth by the Weird Sisters. He lives his life according to what has been foretold to him. Everything that he does, he does because of what he knows will be. Like Cumberland Clark said in his book, A Study of Macbeth, "All subsequent events in each section are controlled by what happened at these meetings, and throughout the action the mysterious influence of the sisters is ever present [...] (117). Even when his castle is about to be attacked, he does not worry because of what he was told. Macbeth says, "That will never be./ Who can impress the forest, bid the tree/ unfix earthbound root?" (4.1.108-110) Macbeth becomes completely confident after hearing the three apparitions tell him that none of women born shall harm him and not to fear until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane. He also follows their guidance after being told to beware Macduff. The witches warp his mind so completely that they could probably get him to do anything they wanted simply by giving him some prophecy. He completely trusts and relies on the Weird Sisters throughout the bulk of the story. He does not realize that he is being controlled almost entirely by what everyone around him is telling him to do. But, in all fairness, the Weird Sisters tell him the truth. They merely rephrase what they …show more content…
are saying so that Macbeth will feel completely at ease and content. For example, Macbeth is told to "laugh to scorn/ the power of man, for none of woman born/ shall harm Macbeth" (4.1.90-92). He takes this to mean that no one in the world can hurt him because all men born were born from women. After this that Macbeth makes his fatal mistake. He believes himself to be invincible and does not fear what he should be terrified of.
In the end, it becomes obvious that the Weird Sisters have the ability in Macbeth to manipulate the lives of all the characters to satisfy their every whim and fancy.
While they do not exactly do just that, the part they play in assisting fate becomes directly responsible for the overall outcome of the play. They are the reason Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and Banquo all lose their lives. If they had never met with Macbeth or if Macbeth had never chosen to listen to their predictions, the lives of the people in the play would have differed. It may not have been a very great difference, but that does not matter. All that matters is that what happens in the end was because Macbeth met the sisters and listened to what they told him. Fate set up everything up, sat back, and watched while Macbeth did exactly what one could predict of him. They Weird Sisters play upon his weakness for greed and ambition to allow fate to run its course. "Thus the witches inspire the central action of the play," said Charles Boyce (715). Macbeth may have made his own choices, but he could not have and would not make the decisions without the overwhelming influence of the Weird Sisters, whom he met with as was decided by fate or else Macbeth would not have been ruled by them
so.
No person in this world can accurately state that free will does not exist. The same thing goes for fate. A person can believe in one or the other or both. People have the choice to believe whichever helps them sleep better at night. However, in Macbeth, Shakespeare seems to be showing a strong sense of fate where the outcome has already been plotted to include Macbeth 's meetings with the Weird Sisters, the decisions he makes, and how these decisions affect the world around him. Macbeth bases everything he does and every move he make on what he has been told by the Weird Sisters. This makes the Weird Sisters, acting as the driving force of fate, directly responsible for the conclusion of the play.
Works Cited
Boyce, Charles. Witches. Shakespeare A to Z. Roundtable Press, Inc: New York, 1990
Clark, Cumberland. Shakespeare and the Supernatural. Haskell House Publishers LTD.: New
York, 1971
Clark, Cumberland. A Study of Macbeth. Stratford-upon-Avon: Folcroft Library Editions, 1977
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Eds. Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine. New
York: Washington Square Press, 1992
Many types of people exist in this world. A majority of those people believe in either free will or fate/destiny. All of these people make their own decisions, but how? Who tells them what to do? Or do they decide on their own? Whether or not fate actually exists is something some people spend their entire lives searching for. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the Weird Sisters act as agents of fate to show Macbeth the path he is meant to take and they succeed in manipulating him with their prophecies.
At first, Macbeth is wary of the Weird Sisters and their prophecies. He wants to believe them, certainly, but he cannot trust the prediction. But after he discovers that the first part of the Sisters prophecy has come true, …show more content…
him becoming Thane of Cawdor, he begins to believe that he will be king. However, he hides this newfound glimmer of hope for himself from all those but his wife, who was quite possibly the worst person he could have told. But he soon finds obstacles when Duncan names Malcolm as his heir. After discovering this fact, Macbeth exclaims: "Oh Prince of Cumberland! That is a step/ on which I must fall down o 'erleap,/ for in my way it lies" (1.4.55-57). This begins Macbeth 's decision to kill Duncan so he can become king, although the Weird Sisters never specified how he was to become king. They never once told him that he had to kill Duncan; he chooses to. Macbeth makes the choice to become king by killing Duncan. That does not, however, change the fact that Macbeth would not have even begun to think of being king without speaking to the witches. Like Cumberland Clark said in his book Shakespeare and the Supernatural, "Man still retained the gift of free-will; he would not be deprived of life, only lured to self destruction (83). Macbeth made his own choice but only because he was told what would/could be by the Weird Sisters. Fate is what drives Macbeth into all the situations he finds himself. Yet he refuses to admit to anyone that he has been affected by the prophecies. When confronted by Banquo about how each of the prophecies of the Weird Sisters has come true after Macbeth is crowned the new king of Scotland, Macbeth denies even thinking about the predictions and claims he forgot about them almost completely.
Throughout the majority of the play, Macbeth makes decisions.
While they are not always the best choices he could make, these decisions tend to always be based on a main piece of information: The prophecies told to Macbeth by the Weird Sisters. He lives his life according to what has been foretold to him. Everything that he does, he does because of what he knows will be. Like Cumberland Clark said in his book, A Study of Macbeth, "All subsequent events in each section are controlled by what happened at these meetings, and throughout the action the mysterious influence of the sisters is ever present [...] (117). Even when his castle is about to be attacked, he does not worry because of what he was told. Macbeth says, "That will never be./ Who can impress the forest, bid the tree/ unfix earthbound root?" (4.1.108-110) Macbeth becomes completely confident after hearing the three apparitions tell him that none of women born shall harm him and not to fear until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane. He also follows their guidance after being told to beware Macduff. The witches warp his mind so completely that they could probably get him to do anything they wanted simply by giving him some prophecy. He completely trusts and relies on the Weird Sisters throughout the bulk of the story. He does not realize that he is being controlled almost entirely by what everyone around him is telling him to do. But, in all fairness, the Weird Sisters tell him the truth. They merely rephrase what they …show more content…
are saying so that Macbeth will feel completely at ease and content. For example, Macbeth is told to "laugh to scorn/ the power of man, for none of woman born/ shall harm Macbeth" (4.1.90-92). He takes this to mean that no one in the world can hurt him because all men born were born from women. After this that Macbeth makes his fatal mistake. He believes himself to be invincible and does not fear what he should be terrified of.
In the end, it becomes obvious that the Weird Sisters have the ability in Macbeth to manipulate the lives of all the characters to satisfy their every whim and fancy.
While they do not exactly do just that, the part they play in assisting fate becomes directly responsible for the overall outcome of the play. They are the reason Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and Banquo all lose their lives. If they had never met with Macbeth or if Macbeth had never chosen to listen to their predictions, the lives of the people in the play would have differed. It may not have been a very great difference, but that does not matter. All that matters is that what happens in the end was because Macbeth met the sisters and listened to what they told him. Fate set up everything up, sat back, and watched while Macbeth did exactly what one could predict of him. They Weird Sisters play upon his weakness for greed and ambition to allow fate to run its course. "Thus the witches inspire the central action of the play," said Charles Boyce (715). Macbeth may have made his own choices, but he could not have and would not make the decisions without the overwhelming influence of the Weird Sisters, whom he met with as was decided by fate or else Macbeth would not have been ruled by them
so.
No person in this world can accurately state that free will does not exist. The same thing goes for fate. A person can believe in one or the other or both. People have the choice to believe whichever helps them sleep better at night. However, in Macbeth, Shakespeare seems to be showing a strong sense of fate where the outcome has already been plotted to include Macbeth 's meetings with the Weird Sisters, the decisions he makes, and how these decisions affect the world around him. Macbeth bases everything he does and every move he make on what he has been told by the Weird Sisters. This makes the Weird Sisters, acting as the driving force of fate, directly responsible for the conclusion of the play.
Works Cited
Boyce, Charles. Witches. Shakespeare A to Z. Roundtable Press, Inc: New York, 1990
Clark, Cumberland. Shakespeare and the Supernatural. Haskell House Publishers LTD.: New
York, 1971
Clark, Cumberland. A Study of Macbeth. Stratford-upon-Avon: Folcroft Library Editions, 1977
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Macbeth. Eds. Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine. New
York: Washington Square Press, 1992