Does a person have full control of their destiny? Or is something else controlling them? The concept of fate versus free will has vexed and intrigued the human race for centuries. William Shakespeare, an English poet and playwright, took a particular interest in fate versus free will. It is a concept that he often explores in his plays, and it appears in everything from All’s Well That Ends Well to Macbeth. By eEstablishing the witches as fate at the beginning of the play Macbeth, William Shakespeare attributes Macbeth’s downfall to fate as the witches and their prophecies drive Macbeth to his doom. Shakespeare establishes the witches as fate and clarifies their influence as they interfere with Macbeth’s attempt to exert his own free will. The three Weird Sisters, who are introduced in the opening scene of the play, originate from the three Fates commonly seen throughout literature and …show more content…
The words of the witches prophecy come back to Macbeth as he is contemplating the murder, “[the Weird Sisters]… put a barren scepter in my grip,/thence to be wrenched with an unlineal hand” (3.1.67-68). The unlineal hand that Macbeth speaks of is Banquo. The use of the word “wrenched” indicates that the crown will be unwillingly and violently ripped from Macbeth by Banquo. Macbeth does not want Banquo to have the crown, so he has Banquo killed, going against what Macbeth believes the Weird Sisters prophecy to mean. Macbeth then decides that he must visit the witches to learn about what his actions will cause, “I will tomorrow to the Weird Sisters./More shall they speak, for now I am bent to know/ by the worst means the worst” (3.4.164-166). Macbeth’s visit to the Weird Sisters will seal his fate and downfall. In an attempt to go against fate, Macbeth kills Banquo, all the while playing into the Weird Sisters waiting