Does Macbeth Have Free-Will? Essay

way / With such prophetic greeting. Speak, I charge you." (1.3.75-76). The way Macbeth demands for more information emphasizes his desire for power. Macbeth sees himself as king of Scotland, which in turn makes him speaks to the witches as if weaker than him. Thus, Macbeth's willingness to believe the witches about how he will be king is what encourages him to demand more information on his prophetic power. Also, due to Macbeths willingness to believe the prophecies he disregard's his loyalty to Duncan. After Macbeth is informed he will be thane of Cawdor he says in his aside, " My

He's here in double trust: first as I his kinsman and his subject, strong both against the deed; then as his host, who should against his murderer shut the door, not bear the knife myself (39)...We will proceed no further in this business"(41). Yet, Macbeth's desire to become king overrides his feelings for Duncan as he continues to do such evil. Macbeth believes that he can only fix his wrongs with more wrongs, therefore he was, in fact, acting on his own volition. "Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill"(95).

Macbeth’s downward spiral of events was created through his own free will. The witches did foretell his future but they never directly controlled his actions. The sisters did not cast a spell to make Macbeth go crazy. He was engulfed in his lust for power and his battle with his conscience. This led to his insomnia

But the witches who could supposedly foretell the future, add temptation, and influence Macbeth. They had told Macbeth that he would be King he became impatient and tried to hurry it as quickly as he could. But they cannot control his destiny. Macbeth creates his own misery when he is driven by his own sense of guilt. This causes him to become insecure as to the reasons for his actions, which in turn causes him to commit more murders. The witches offer great enticement, but it is in the end, each individual’s decision to fall for the temptation, or to be strong enough to resist their captivation. The three Witches are only responsible for the introduction of these ideas and for further forming ideas in Macbeth head, but they are not responsible for his actions throughout the play.

Macbeth’s Free Will The play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, is about a Scotsman who, after hearing a prophecy from three witches, decides to murder the king of Scotland so that he can gain power and become the king. After he does this, he kills many people in order to preserve his reign. Since Macbeth kills so many people, many people do not like Macbeth, two of which are Macduff and Malcolm. These two have had their families killed and seek revenge on Macbeth. To do this, they build an army from England and fight Macbeth eventually leading to Macbeth’s death.

At first, it almost seems like Macbeth is just a pawn of fate with such external influences like the witches and his wife pushing him towards murder and evil. Later on however, Macbeth proves to be a man of free will. He consciously chooses to let external factors influence his decisions. Although the Witches, and Lady Macbeth try to push Macbeth into his actions, he ultimately made the final decisions, therefor he acts as an agent of free will Lady Macbeth, and the witches convince Macbeth towards regicide, but this influence they had on him did not control his actions.

Throughout William Shakespeare's famous tragic play, Macbeth, Macbeth is torn between letting fate take it's course, or using free will to help speed up the prophecy. In this tragic play, Macbeth is presented w/ two paths to take to act upon. He has th option to listen to the witches prophecy & let fate lead him to his destiny or to use his own free will & actions get where he is destined to be. After Macbeth hears the prophecy, he chooses free will when it comes to fate, the murders, and the guilt.

After the witches tell Macbeth his prophecies, Macbeth starts to act upon himself to make this fate happen by murdering King Duncan. Macbeth creates these “present fears” that are stronger “than [King Duncan’s] horrible imaginings” of “murder yet is but [what is] fantastical” (I.iii.137-142). In his own interest, Macbeth takes his own turn to change the prophecies in order to become king. During plotting Duncan’s murder, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth uses both their free will to carry out the deed thinking it’s the only way to achieve his fate. Later when Macbeth also kills Banquo, the two chamberlains, Lady Macduff and her children, Macbeth, along with his wife, begin to lose their insanity. Soon war between Scotland and England break out, and Macbeth states “I’ll prove the lie thou speak’st./ Thou wast born of woman./But swords I smile at, weapons laugh to scorn” (V.viii.10-14). After given the apparitions, Macbeth thinks he is indestructible. Whether or not the witches’ prophecies and apparitions were true, it was Macbeth free-will to believe them and act upon them. Born unnaturally, Macduff kills Macbeth altering the apparitions. During the whole play, Macbeth puts his fate in his control which leaves his life going in a spiral

Macbeth’s greed for power sets him off to decide to execute King Duncan and other characters in the play. Regardless of the possibility that the appalling defeat of Macbeth shows up as fated, it is Macbeth's own decision that prompts his own downfall resulted by his demonstrations of free will. Macbeth has free will to pick the moves he makes. He has the

Macbeth Analysis Humans are affected by everything and everyone around them regardless of who or what it is. They are affected by others in the choices they make, the foods they eat, where they go, and who they will be. Because people are affected by everything and everyone, do they ultimately have free will? Free will is "the ability to choose how to act" (Merriam-Webster, para 1). The Tragedy of Macbeth, written by William Shakespeare, attempts to understand to what extent humans have free will.

If you were given the chance to choose how your success would come in life, would you choose to wait patiently and allow fate to do its job; or would you take matters into your own hands no matter the circumstances? In Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, the main character, decided that his success would have to come by his own doing. But, was it Macbeth's fate to be a traitor and a murderer? Or is he alone responsible for his actions, and had he freely chosen this?

In Macbeth there is a question as to whether or not Macbeth is driven by fate or free will. The three weird sisters approach Macbeth with prophecies that come true in the end. It would appear that Macbeth is just following his destiny at first, since it seems that fate is playing its part. However this changes as Macbeth changes, and it shows us that he always had the ability to choose his own fate.

Macbeth is a victim of his own desire. So, yes, he has free will. The question (free-will or determination) hinges on our assessment of how much power the fates have to control Macbeth's future, and also how much power Macbeth has to make his own decisions. I would argue that the witches' control is limited.

Confused by its sudden appearance, Macbeth attempts to grab it, but fails since it is not real. He asks, “A dagger of mind, a false creation / Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain?” (2.1.50-51). The heat oppressèd, or feverishly excited brain of his is a result of Macbeth being anxious about the murder he is about to commit. Macbeth then draws the conclusion that the gory dagger before him he sees is due to the upcoming deed he will do. “I see thee still, / And, on thy blade and dudgeon, gouts of blood/.../ There’s no such thing. / It is the bloody business which informs / Thus to mine eyes” (2.1.57-61). This quote shows Macbeth’s fate, which is killing Duncan. However, he is still unsure about doing so. While Lady Macbeth pressures him to stab Duncan with the dagger, Macbeth does not want to betray the king, which is his free will. After imagining the bloody dagger, Macbeth chooses to follow fate, which both he and his wife will come to

In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth, Macbeth’s life is governing by conscience which is portrayed through his free will and decisions. Initially, people have the choice whether or not to listen to what other people tell them to do. Witch three says, “All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3.50). Macbeth was told he was going to be king, but it was his choice whether or not he was going to earn it or cheat his way.