Macbeth Essay

Macbeth Essay

Seth Moore

Asher Per. 1

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the presence of fate and how the characters perceive it affect their actions and ultimately drive the story forward. Shakespeare shows this through the use of the characterizations of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Macbeth is willing to allow fate to take its course, however his wife feels the need to quicken the process themselves. This lets the story unfold as new obstacles are found by Macbeth.
In this play, Macbeth meets three witches who tell him that he will become Thane of Cawdor and eventually king. Macbeth does not believe them at first, but when a part of their prophecy comes true and Macbeth becomes Thane of Cawdor, he realizes that they might be right after all. Macbeth reacts to this by thinking that these prophecies will come true, regardless of his actions, which is shown when he says, “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir.” Macbeth does not want to take any shortcuts to becoming king, however, when Lady Macbeth receives his letter containing the details of his encounter with the witches, she immediately plans to kill Duncan. She knows her husband will disagree with her since he lacks ruthlessness, but she plans to speak her mind about the situation anyway. Lady Macbeth’s reaction and thoughts regarding the fate that has been bestowed upon Macbeth allows a whole new outlook on the situation to be seen. The action of the play now changes to the killing of Duncan and the challenges and conflicts that will come with it. Although Macbeth never initially changed, fate has influenced Lady Macbeth’s actions for pretty much the entire play. Her decisions revolve around Macbeth’s fate of becoming king, which is the drive for the rest of the story to come.
After Macbeth kills Duncan and orders Banquo to be killed, he returns to the witches again. This time, they tell him that he should fear Macduff, no person born of a woman can hurt him, and that he won’t be defeated until the Birnam woods come against him at his castle. This new fate that the witches have given Macbeth, especially the second part of it, drives the action forward since Macbeth feels almost invincible and that he won’t be defeated since trees cannot move. However, when an army disguised with branches from the Birnam woods led by Macduff approach Macbeth’s castle, his feeling of invincibility subsides. However, whenever Macbeth comes across an opponent, he recalls his fate and has complete faith that he will defeat whoever he comes across. This allows the story to progress until Macbeth runs into Macduff, who turns out was cut out of his mother’s stomach. Macbeth realizes that this is his end, but goes out fighting. Macbeth perceived the fate that the witches had given him to mean that he was invincible. This let the story progress as Macbeth’s arrogance got the better of him.
By perceiving fate in different ways, the characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth drove the story forward with the decisions that they made. Lady Macbeth, who was impatient and rash, drove the story forward by planning the murder of Duncan, while Macbeth, who wanted to remain patient and loyal, became extremely arrogant which allowed the story to finish off in almost a relieving matter. These qualities that the characters showed were magnified by the presence and perception of fate.