Macbeth
Some people are convinced that each person's life is pre-determined by an outside force such as fate which has already decided every event in that person's life such as the time of death, but others are antithetical and may argue that a person's life is determined by each individual choice the person makes. Some people take the in-between route and believe that lives are sketched out, but can be slightly altered with each choice. William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" is a tragic play that details the rise and fall of King Macbeth of a once placid Scotland, and the momentum for the play's dark progression, along with the source of Macbeth's status as a tragic figure, is an encounter between Macbeth and three witches which leads to his rise to the throne, his intrinsic descent into tyranny, and his ultimate demise. Some may consider the fulfillment of these witches' captious predictions as a clear sign that Macbeth's path is a fated one, destined to happen, but instead, the witches' manipulations of Macbeth, his own self-doubt, and his mordant conflicting thoughts of ambition all leads to proof that it is Macbeth's exorbitant free will, not fate, that determined the course of the play. While some may consider the witches' prognosis o
The witches are inconsistent with their predictions as to who will cause the impasse of Macbeth, and are an undependable source for predictions because they cannot properly portend the future of Macbeth. Later, this concern shifts to what Macbeth was afraid he would have to do to Duncan, showing that he did not trust fate to carry out this course of action, and believed that his own inaction would leave the witches' prophesies unfulfilled. Amongst these is the ultimate resting place of his soul, and his concern for his possible damnation and living in opprobrium shows that he recognizes the difference between premeditated murder and a fated assassination. Within my sword's length set him. Macbeth's consequent murder of Macduff's family shows an act completely motivated by free will and uninspired by the witches. Though his bark cannot be lost, Yet it shall be tempest-tost"(Act 1, scene iii, 22-25). Macduff initially held Macbeth in high regard, and his absence would signal no more than an inability to travel to Macbeth's court by another person. When the women noticed the effect that they had on Macbeth, they could have just played him for his obvious ignorance, and they might have even had no idea that any of the events would happen. "Weary sev'nights, nine times nine,Shall he dwindle, peak, and pine. The meaning of life is very moot, and the patterns of life are beyond the knowledge of humans. I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself And falls on the other-" (Act I, scene vii, 25-28)Later, Macbeth's growing mental unrest that is shown by his increasing paranoia and the appearance of his phantom victim began the path to fulfilling the later predictions. Also, before he resolves to finally kill Duncan, Macbeth lists a number of reasons why he should not take part in the assassination plot.
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