The Innocent Witches
             MacBeth, the tragic hero, has always won the sympathy of his audiences despite all his evil deeds. The audience most of the time believes that MacBeth had an inner good, and that if it hadn't been for the witches' prediction, MacBeth would not have died. Evidently, MacBeth had used the witches' predictions as a scapegoat. The prophecies have been accused as a major cause for MacBeth's downfall. Yet if we look closely, we find that in every situation MacBeth had a choice, and it was he who made the final decision. The witches' predictions served merely as a psychological justification for MacBeth's scheme.
             Superficially, it appeared that MacBeth was just following his destiny, and had no choice in the fate that the witches predicted. Thus the audience would think that MacBeth did not have the chance to do good, but this answer is unrealistic. In the play, the witches predicted that MacBeth would be the Thane of Cawdor, that he would be King, and that Banquo's sons would be kings. MacBeth almost immediately took the prophecies as reality and tried to fulfill the tempting predictions. The self- fulfilling prophecies resulted in the emergence of a greedy, ambitious, and "conscience-less" MacBeth. He chose to believe in the predictions and disregarded Banquo's sound advice. To fulfill the prophecies, MacBeth resorted to all means; he needed support and confirmation for his scheme, thus he let Lady MacBeth involve him in the assassin of Duncan. It is apparent that MacBeth's decision was of his own free will, and not due to fate.
             MacBeth's fatal flaw was that he did not let events happen naturally. He could have avoided Banquo's death and stopped all his evil deeds in the early phase, but he chose not to do so. There was always a good chance for MacBeth to be a good king. He might be suspected by Banquo, but he could wipe away Banquo's suspicion if he ru...