Cody Bartlett Macbeth Essay- p.2

In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Shakespeare shows that fate drives the course of one’s actions through his characters’ dialogue and their reactions to events and other characters. This is demonstrated most strongly through the character of Macbeth as he is told of his personal fate by the witches and changes the way he lives based upon their words and visions. In order to advance the plot of the play, Shakespeare uses the characterization of Macbeth through his direct comments and thoughts as well as other characters opinions about him to further the significance of fate influencing man’s decisions and actions.
In the opening act of the play, Macbeth is informed by the witches that he is to be Thane of Cawdor and although puzzled by this information because in order to become Thane, the current King must be dead, which he is not; he takes this prophecy seriously and it leads to the main action of the play. Based upon this information, Macbeth returns home to his wife and they discuss the prophecy and they begin to set a plan in motion to kill King Duncan. This particular instance is an example of fate determining one’s actions as Macbeth murders the king after gaining the knowledge of his fate of being king. This is further clarified by his wife’s comments about him needing to hide his emotions and act as though all is well in the aftermath of the King’s body being discovered.
Another example of Macbeth being driven to extremes by his fate is the second time he encounters the witches; they tell him that no man born from a woman will defeat him. With this, and Macbeth’s personal thoughts, it is revealed that this new information about his fate causes him to act rashly. This is best shown when Macduff and Malcolm’s army is approaching and Macbeth appears overconfident when engaging in combat with young Siward. Macbeth speaks to himself saying that he is all mighty and cannot be defeated, which removes his fear. Although his fate ends up being death, ironically the one part of the prophecy the witches did not mention, Macbeth’s actions and decision are based upon his knowledge of his own fate and depend on his devotion and belief in their accuracy.
Throughout his play, William Shakespeare’s use of characterization techniques help amplify the importance of his message and overarching idea that fate causes characters to act differently. In the case of Macbeth, he is driven to madness by the predictions of his future and essentially the knowledge of his fate which influence how he acts.