Jason Sim P4 Asher Macbeth Essay

Prompt: In Shakespeare’s Macbeth man’s perception of fate affects man’s actions. In a carefully organized essay discuss how Shakespeare uses the device of characterization to clarify his perception and drive the action forward.

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the three evil sisters played the role of the entity that foretells the main character about his fate. Macbeth’s realization of his own fate strongly affected his behaviors. Macbeth made his biggest mistake when he became ever so prideful and arrogant after he heard the prophecy of his supposed “immortality”.

Before Macbeth actually becomes the King of Scotland, the witches prophesized another prediction when they addressed the Macbeth as Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth’ ego started to rise when he was told his destiny to become the Thane of Cawdor. When Macbeth finds out that the prophecies are true, he becomes a madman hungry for power and begins think of plots to murder and gain the throne.

When the witches tell Macbeth, “Macbeth will never be vanquished be, until Great Birnamwood to high Duns inane hill shall come against him”, he becomes nervous but eventually thinks and acts as if he is invulnerable. Macbeth becomes beyond prideful when he hears the prophecy, which states that no man born of women can kill him. After committing the murders, Macbeth becomes a narcissist King who loses the loyalty of his own men and soldiers. Macbeth is driven insane by the foretold prophecies of the witches.

By revealing Macbeth’s fate, the witches strongly influenced Macbeth’s decisions and actions. Macbeth’s actions had taken him up to a position of great power, but as he continued to be twisted by the evil prophecies, he eventually leads himself into his own downfall and death. All those prophecies were only parts of Macbeth’s fate that Macbeth had taken out of context and misinterpreted. Macbeth had wrongly assumed that he would live forever because of the witch’s prophecies. Macbeth’s own actions, which had been affected by his perception of fate, lead him to his failure.