Living in a world filled with fear and worries from tragic events continuously occurring in society, it is no shock that people are relentlessly wondering about the upcoming future. People are left with the wandering thought of whether the events occurring in society are caused by the courses of actions and choices one decides to commit or that it was fated from the beginning. Throughout, centuries the question of whether fate or free will defy one's destiny has been circling around leading it to become of one of the most used topics in literature. In fact, William Shakespeare’s uses the idea of Fate vs Free will in his tragedy play Macbeth. During, the play Shakespeare plays puppeteer with the title character, Macbeth by hanging his own course
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After Macbeth is notified by one of the servants that he was granted the title as Thane of Cawdor by Duncan he reckons that he might just become king after all. From this point and on Macbeth treats the witches' prophecies as if they were a reality, and instead of letting fate occur naturally he speeds up the process by fulfilling the prophecies as well as giving into the greed for power that the witches have sparked within him. Macbeth fascination with the witches suggests to the readers that he uses them as a guideline to his life which leads him to make poor choices and they are as well as a sense of security for his own greedy mind. Once Macbeth is crowned as King of Scotland he is undoubtedly eager to fulfill any prophecies the witches have for him. In the second visit of the witches, Macbeth commands them to tell him what they have to say, to which they tell him in the forms of the three apparitions, to be beware of Macduff, that none of woman born will harm him and that Banquo descendants will overpower him. Once again Macbeth relies on the witches prophecies and tries to defy these fates by taking his own course of actions, “ Time, thou anticipat’st my dread exploits. The flighty purpose is never o’ertook unless the deed goes with it. From this moment the very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand. And even now, to crown my thoughts with acts, be it though and done;” ( Macbeth). He makes the choice of killing Banquo and his son and as well as Macduff's family. Macbeth commanding these murders to be done signifies that he is not controlled by fate but by his own free will. The witches had never once mentioned that he had to kill Duncan, Banquo, Fleance or Macduff’s family, Macbeth had made that choice
After Macbeth is notified by one of the servants that he was granted the title as Thane of Cawdor by Duncan he reckons that he might just become king after all. From this point and on Macbeth treats the witches' prophecies as if they were a reality, and instead of letting fate occur naturally he speeds up the process by fulfilling the prophecies as well as giving into the greed for power that the witches have sparked within him. Macbeth fascination with the witches suggests to the readers that he uses them as a guideline to his life which leads him to make poor choices and they are as well as a sense of security for his own greedy mind. Once Macbeth is crowned as King of Scotland he is undoubtedly eager to fulfill any prophecies the witches have for him. In the second visit of the witches, Macbeth commands them to tell him what they have to say, to which they tell him in the forms of the three apparitions, to be beware of Macduff, that none of woman born will harm him and that Banquo descendants will overpower him. Once again Macbeth relies on the witches prophecies and tries to defy these fates by taking his own course of actions, “ Time, thou anticipat’st my dread exploits. The flighty purpose is never o’ertook unless the deed goes with it. From this moment the very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand. And even now, to crown my thoughts with acts, be it though and done;” ( Macbeth). He makes the choice of killing Banquo and his son and as well as Macduff's family. Macbeth commanding these murders to be done signifies that he is not controlled by fate but by his own free will. The witches had never once mentioned that he had to kill Duncan, Banquo, Fleance or Macduff’s family, Macbeth had made that choice