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Choices In Shakespeare's Macbeth And Free Will

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When something happens, is it because of free will? Or is free will all an illusion and everything is really just fate? That question can be applied to Macbeth’s choices in the play Macbeth. Were Macbeth’s choices because of free will or fate? I believe in the fate theory. All of the choices Macbeth made were predetermined and that is why the three witches were able to tell him his fate in the beginning of the story. Therefore, the things we do may seem like we have choices and free will, but in reality, fate governs all of the things we do and our destiny is already set in stone.
The idea of fate in Macbeth is very real. Fate is so real in the play Macbeth that at one point Macbeth even told fate to fight him to the death as if fate was a …show more content…

For example, Duncan just so happened to be spending a night at Macbeth’s house when Lady Macbeth talks Macbeth into killing him. Another one would be how Macduff was not born of woman, or how when Macbeth sent the killers to kill his family he was not there and that just so happened to make him mad enough to want to go and find Macbeth. The three witches also predicted that Macbeth would be Thane of Glamis, Cawdor, and King hereafter and his life was basically put right in front of him and he could not do anything to change it. (William Shakespeare 327) Shakespeare wanted us to think that Macbeth had a choice in the matter but really he was following the ultimate plan that was already set and that eventually ended with his death. For example, Shakespeare made it seem like Macbeth did not want to kill Duncan and that Lady Macbeth had to convince him to kill Duncan which made it look like it was Macbeth’s free will when really it was fate controlling Macbeth the whole time.(338) If all of Macbeth’s actions were spontaneous then there would have been no way for the witches to predict Macbeth’s and Banquo’s future like they did, and be 100 percent correct. The witches knew that Macbeth would be king and Banquo’s children would be kings way before they ever thought that something like that would be possible. (William Shakespeare 328) Which should tell you that it was fate since the

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