Lady Macbeth And The Witches example essay topic

Macbeth It wasn't fate that guided Macbeth's course, rather it was his own free will and external influences that did so. The witches manipulation of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth's influence, Macbeth's active participation in fulfilling the prophecies and conflicting thoughts, are all factors that show that it was his own free will which determined his future. William Shakespeare's Macbeth details the rise and gradual fall of a Scottish General, Macbeth. In the opening scenes, Macbeth is approached by three witches who propehcise that he'd become King of Scotland. Knowing the burden of ascension, Macbeth decides to kill the king. One of the most common questions asked about the tragedy of Macbeth is whether it was Macbeth's fate or his own free will that lead to his murder of King Duncan and his eventual downfall.

Many people consider that because the witches' predictions came true, it was Macbeth's destiny to kill Duncan and become King. However, the witches weren't able to directly control Macbeth's actions and had no real power to ensure their predictions came true. In Act I Scene, one of the witches says "Though his bark cannot be lost, Yet it shall be tempest-tossed". The quote means that although the witches were unable to sink a sailor's ship, they were able to send tempests to start the boat rocking. They relate this to their current situation with Macbeth. When the witches 1st meet Macbeth, they greet him as 'Thane of Candor.

' When Macbeth learns of the previous thane's execution, he's influenced into believing that the other prophecies of him becoming king, will also come true. In Act I Scene IV, when Duncan names his son, Malcolm as heir to the throne, Macbeth is spurred to take action to fulfill his ambitions. After killing Duncan, Macbeth simply says "I have done the deed". Nowhere does he blame the witches.

It is only his ambitions that made him kill Duncan. All the witches did was look into Macbeth's mind, discover his desires and start a fire within him, with fuel that had already been provided. They simply managed to start the ball rolling. Lady Macbeth was also a major influence in Duncan's murder. Upon learning of the events between Macbeth and the witches, Lady Macbeth is driven by her own selfish ambitions to kill Duncan. In Act I Scene 5, Lady Macbeth says "Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem To have thee crowned withal".

This conveys that Lady Macbeth doesn't believe in fate and that only killing Duncan will make Macbeth King. She thinks up of a plan to kill Duncan and approaches Macbeth with the idea. She was the 1st person to openly to talk about killing Duncan. After their discussion, Macbeth weighed up the reasons to kill or not kill Duncan and had decided against the deed. Lady Macbeth immeadietly appealed for a change of mind. Lady Macbeth called her husband a coward, drunk and challenged him to prove his love to her by killing Duncan.

If it wasn't for Lady Macbeth's influence, Macbeth certainly wouldn't have killed Duncan. Deliberation and conflicting thoughts are another aspect of Macbeth which clearly shows all decisions were made by free will. If it was Macbeth's fate to become king by killing Duncan, he wouldn't have deliberated or have any thoughts opposing the deed. Yet Macbeth was constantly deliberating with his wife on whether to kill Duncan or not.

During their deliberations not once is fate mentioned. In fact throughout the whole play fate and destiny is hardly mentioned at all. Macbeth even raises the prospect of failing to do the deed. Macbeth's soliloquy in Act I Scene VII lists various reasons why not to kill Duncan. Some of things he said were "we'd jump the life to come", meaning we'd be gambling on eternity, "I am his subject and his kinsman", meaning that Macbeth should be protecting Duncan as he's the guest and also "this Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been So clear in his great office" meaning Duncan is a great person. All these reasons show that Macbeth was concerned about the consequences of murdering Duncan.

In Act II Scene II Macbeth says "To know my deed, 'were best not know myself. Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!" This basically means that Macbeth is regretting what he's done and wants Duncan to come back to life. All of Macbeth's murders were deliberated, planned and calculated.

This conveys that Macbeth played a great deal in the murders and had many opportunities to not commit them. A fatalist wouldn't even commit or consider one of these things, let alone all of them. The final source of free will is Macbeth's constant involvement in fulfilling the witches' prophecies. Macbeth only did this because he doubted the witches. Macbeth only decided to kill Duncan because he believed that chance wouldn't crown him king. He didn't trust the witches prophecy and thought that inaction wouldn't fulfill their prophecies.

Another example is when Macbeth sent assassins to kill Banquo and Fleance. If Macbeth believed that the prophecy of Banquo's sons becoming king, it would " ve been pointless to attempt to kill Fleance. In the final scene, Macbeth had the chance to yield to Malcolm when he was fighting Macduff. At that moment, Macbeth already knew that Macduff was born from a Caesarean and if he really believed the witches prophecies, he'd know that Macduff would kill him. Yet Macbeth chooses to fight on. All these examples show Macbeth's doubt in the prophecies and how his actions managed to fulfill them.

External forces ie Lady Macbeth and the witches both had great influence over Macbeth. The witches didn't directly control Macbeth's actions but were able to start a fire within him. When the fire was starting to die, his wife simply fanned them again. Free will is also quite evident throughout the text. Macbeth considered and committed things a fatalist wouldn't. He also played a consistently fulfilled the prophecies by his own actions because he doubted that they'd eventuate by chance.

Fate is no more than what we make of it, but it's whether we act or not, that determines whether they " re fulfilled or not. In this case, it was Macbeth's own free will to act, which lead to his downfall.