Macbeths Failure: Fate or Free Will - Research Paper Example

?Macbeth’s Failure: Fate or Free Will? The extent to which an individual’s success or failure in life is decided by the individual’s fate or his/her own actions is a subject that has always been debated upon. The same element has been discussed in the literature numerously. One such play that leaves it up to the audiences to decide the role of fate and free will in the failure of its characters is Macbeth by William Shakespeare. The events in Macbeth’s life occur partly because of the witches’ prophesies and partly because of his free will. I personally believe that the witches affect Macbeth to some point, but Macbeth makes his own decisions in the long run. Macbeth uses the knowledge of his fate to direct the actions of his free will. Macbeth uses his free will in such a way that he intends to maximize the likelihood of occurrence of the events that he deems good for him and to minimize the probability of occurrence of the events that he deems threats to himself or his kingship. For example, Macbeth knows that he would be the King of Scotland one day. To maximize the likelihood of occurrence of this, he kills Duncan as well as his chamberlains. Similarly, since Macbeth already knows that his throne would one day be seized by the heirs of Bacnquo, he hires a group of killers to get Banquo as well as his son assassinated. Later in the story, Macbeth knows that he would not be killed unless the Birnam woods move toward the Dunsinane Castle, so he fortifies the Dunsinane Castle thinking that a forest can never move. These events suggest that all of the actions Macbeth does in the play out of his free will are indeed guided by his knowledge of fate. Macbeth’s fate plays a very important role in his failure. Macbeth is destined to fail if the witches’ prophesies are considered as Macbeth’s fate (“Macbeth's Destiny”). Indeed, everything in the play does actually happen according to the witches’ prophesies. It is only that some of them Macbeth chooses to believe whereas others he chooses not to since they seem too unnatural and unhappening e.g. movement of the Birnam woods toward the Dunsinane Castle or Macbeth being killed by someone who is not born of a woman. The role of fate in Macbeth’s failure can be estimated from the fact that first he is given the title of Thane of Cawdor because he is destined to be that. He then becomes the King of Scotland because that is his fate. He chooses to fortify Dunsinane because that is where Macduff would approach him by fate. Macbeth’s free will plays a very important role in his failure and demise. Had Macbeth not killed Duncan, he might not have killed anyone later in the story also. Macbeth gains the courage it takes to kill by killing Duncan. Similarly, had Macbeth not killed Duncan, he would not have been guilty. Accordingly, he would not have appalled and frightened the Scottish nobles by behaving absurdly in front of them when he sees the Banquo’s ghost at the feast. Indeed, Banquo’s ghost would never have appeared had Macbeth not killed Duncan. Also, the disgust of the Scottish nobility for Macbeth happens to be a main factor that helps Malcolm, Macduff, and their army invade Scotland which eventually becomes the cause of permanent downfall of Macbeth as well as his death. Likewise, Macbeth fortifies Dunsinane in an attempt to protect himself from the invading army out of free will, certain that he is guaranteed invincibility by the witches’ prophecies. Had he chosen to go somewhere else, he might have escaped the encounter with the invading army. Although both fate and free will are clearly depicted in the play as the responsible factors for Macbeth’s failure, yet both fate and free will also affect each other. When the witches reveal the prophesies about the future of Macbeth and Banquo in the start of the play, they do not tell anything about whether Macbeth would die a natural death or would be killed. Likewise, there is no indication of the Birnam woods’ movement toward the Dunsinane Castle in the first prophesies. These unfortunate events might never have become fate had Macbeth not chosen to take matters in his own hands out of free will and had he not killed all the people that he does in the play. The murders he does out of his free will might be the main reason why his fate leads him to a bad ending; the Birnam woods’ movement toward the Dunsinane Castle or Macbeth’s death by Macduff might not have happened had Macbeth remained a noble man. This provides an explanation as well as example of the commonly held concept that a man is his own fate’s architect (“Appius Claudius quotes”). Concluding, neither fate nor free will can be considered as the exclusive and only factor that was responsible for the failure of Macbeth. Indeed, both have played their part in Macbeth’s failure. Various events of the story suggest that Macbeth’s advances were supported by the witches’ prophesies as well as his personal decisions. This is because he neither ever fully believed the witches nor ever fully trusted his own fate. Had Macbeth fully believed the witches, he would have been cautious that the Birnam wood would indeed one day move toward the Dunsinane Castle and that someone might not be born of a woman. On the other hand, had Macbeth trusted his own fate, he would have chosen to remain a noble man rather than killing Duncan as well as several other people he deemed threats to his kingship afterwards because he was destined to be a king. It all starts with fate in the play. Knowledge of his fate leads him to criminal actions out of his free will that in turn affect his fate and eventually, using his own free will, he ends up getting killed by Macduff. Therefore, both fate and free will played their respective roles to cause Macbeth’s failure. Works Cited: “Appius Claudius quotes.”SearchQuotes. 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. . “Macbeth's Destiny, An Issue of Fate or Freewill??? William Shakespear Macbeth.” April 2004. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. . Read More