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Macbeth’s Fate as the Focus of the Free Will and Fate Debate
When the witches prophesize Macbeth’s destiny, do they change the future by giving Macbeth the ideas necessary to play them out? I want to discuss about that all of us in this world has a free will but this is depends on the person what is his destiny in the future. Also this world is predestination; I mean that this life is written before. When you search up the definition of ‘ fate’, it states that ‘ the development of events beyond a person’s control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power’. The definition of’ free will’ is: ‘the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one’s own discretion’.
In the whole life we can see fate and free will are combined and its depends on the person and his desire and also his choices what they want to create the future. Though the witches prophecy Macbeth’s destiny they do not change Macbeth’s future by telling him the prophecy. Cause think about if random witches you never seen before tell you a future prediction about yourself, will that change your future? Absolutely no, he states, ‘may they (witches) not be my oracles'(Act III, sc.i, 9). He is stating that he will just let events occur and not try to fulfill the prophecies. Macbeth also had this same choice. “THIRD WITCH All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter! Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none. So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!” (1.3.53;70-71) here witches try to say You are not as happy as Macbeth, yet much happier. Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none. Your descendants will be kings, even though you will not be one. So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!
“FIRST WITCH: All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! SECOND WITCH: All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! THIRD WITCH: All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.51-53) Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! The first statement is not prophetic because Macbeth already is the Thane of Glamis…. In this prophecy, the Weird Sisters tell Banquo that he will not be king himself, but that he will father a line of kings. As you can see the witches got Macbeth’s attention. He already knows that he’s the thane of Glamis so now at this point Macbeth is curious and wants to know more about the prophecy of him becoming king. Macbeth then says ‘Into the air, and what seemed corporal melted, as breath into the wind. Would they had stayed (Macbeth 1.3.83-84). In this text Macbeth is saying how he wished they witches should’ve stayed.
In this situation, Macbeth is the victim in his dream to become the king. Even in the text Macbeth says ‘If chance will have me king, why. chance may crown me without my stir (Macbeth 1.3.147-148). He then later says,’ Come what come may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day’ (Macbeth 1.3.151-152). In this text you can clearly see that Macbeth knows that he has his own say in this. If his destiny is already determined, he can do nothing in order to fulfill the destiny. He takes matters into his own control, the witches predict and can recommend, but they don’t control the actions Macbeth takes. Macbeth says, ‘We will proceed no further in this business. He hath honored me of late, and I have bought golden opinions from all sorts of people, which would be worn now in their newest gloss, not cast aside so soon’ (Macbeth 1.7.31-35).
When humans needs something or it’s their desire nothing never can stop them to reach their needs or desire so when we discuss about Macbeth in this case it’s the same as all humans, after hearing the witches prophecy he acted upon it because he had a desire to become the king. So for result I think that witches can’t change Macbeth future. Macbeth continues his behavior and his free will to complete his need or in better words his desire I mean be a king.
