Essay Sample: Free Will Over Fate In the play Macbeth

In the play Macbeth, fate and free will are two significant themes. In the play, the role of fate begins with the three witches. Macbeth visits the three witches who inform him of his fate to be king. When he discovers that the fate he was told was false, he started taking matters into his own hands. He tried to control his own fate instead of letting it run its course. This is when free will started to overpower the role of fate in Macbeth. All of his actions became significantly more impactful on his future when he felt like his fate was changing. Although Macbeth’s fate ultimately came true, his choices were what caused him to fall.

The events in Macbeth’s life were caused by the poor decisions he made. One poor decision he made was being involved in the murder of Duncan. He murdered Duncan becuase he was trying to control his fate. After murdering Duncan he says, “I am afraid to think what I have done” (Shakespeare 2.2.66). This shows that he knows he has done wrong and his actions will affect his future. Macbeth does not care about his future consequences, so he will turn away from what he has done because all he wants is to be king.

Another poor decision he made was trying to have Banquo and his son killed. He tried to have them killed because he was afraid that Banquo’s son would take over as king. When he finds out that Fleance is still alive, he says “The worm that’s fled Hath nature that in time will venom breed” (Shakespeare 3.4.32-33). This line is Macbeth expressing that he tried to kill Fleance out of fear, because he did not trust fate. He is even more motivated out of fear now to go find and kill him. Macbeth is trying to control his fate and is not thinking straight about what could happen. Macbeth is careless about his actions and will do anything to get what he wants no matter what may happen in the future.

In the play Macbeth, the decisions he made caused his fate. His poor decisions were the reason that his fate was dying. He knew what was wrong but let his conscious go out of fear of not getting what he wanted. Fate played no role in his fall, Macbeth’s actions of murdering were the ones to cause his big fall of ultimately dying.