Michael Torza
Mrs. Sandor
English 12 CP, 2
6 October 2014
Fallen Too Far
	Shakespeare was certainly in a cruel trance when he wrote Macbeth. Dangling Macbeth’s fate in front of him the entire play. However, Macbeth is not a helpless victim of the fate as he was fully in control of, and consequently responsible for his actions. Fate versus free will fluctuates in the story as Macbeth becomes more and more aware of his fate but believes only his actions can fulfill it. He was influenced by others and judged by those closest to him, but in the end, he alone was fully responsible for his actions.
	For instance, in the beginning of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the theme of fate versus free will is prevalent in the first act. When the witches hail Macbeth saying “all hail, Macbeth hail to thee, Thane of Glamis! All hail, Macbeth hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor! All hail, Macbeth hail to thee, King hereafter!” (I.iii.49-53) it is the first instance of fate in the play. At this time Banquo, his dear friend, also asks for a prophecy. He receives one that clarifies that he will not be greater than Macbeth, but he will not be lesser. He comments that a prophecy like that will not come true and leaves it alone. Macbeth however gets his first idea of his fate and starts plotting what to do to make it come true.
	However, his fate ends up getting too out of hand during the middle of the story. Macbeth is swayed by his wife to kill, stab, and murder the king, plunging his preset fate into his free willed hands. After Macbeth takes control of his pre-determined fate by killing King Duncan, things start to begin a downward spiral. Macbeth is deemed king exactly like the witches foretold. Now Macbeth is killing anyone who seems like a menace to him. Even his friend Banquo is killed by the tyrant after Macbeth recalls the witches' prophecy that claims "Banquo's children will one day be King" (I.vii). Knowing that all the preceding prophecies have come true, Macbeth does all he can to prevent “[making] them kings, the seed of Banquo kings!” (III.i.73). The example of using his free will to save himself further demonstrates how Macbeth recognizes only his actions can cause or alter his fate.
	At last, near the end of the story Macbeth gets an additional prophecy from the weird sisters. After hearing the witches' foresights of "Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! Beware Macduff, beware the Thane of Fife. Dismiss me. Enough" (IV.i.77-79) Macbeth tells the sisters to leave him be. He grasps he has to "beware Macduff" (IV.i.77) and decides he must do something about it. He openly tests fate, and tries to kill Macduff in his castle, but instead kills his entire family. Once Macbeth realizes an army is coming to his front door and he has nowhere to run to, he looks back to the time where all of this could be avoided.  He reminisces about what would have happened if he just let the prophecy play out. But it was already too late at that point. Macbeth finally realizes that his free will cannot secure his fate, only make his fate less satisfying. With that he eventually is beheaded by Macduff.
	Over all, the witches may have presented Macbeth the future and his fate in a positive outlook, yet it is ultimately Macbeth's decision to perform the deeds of murder and corrupt the vision that he sees. At the beginning, it is indicated that Macbeth had a choice whether or not to attempt and modify his prophecy. Once he started to actually change it, is when everything went wrong for him. It is apparent that Macbeth just made the wrong decisions in his life, which he is absolutely responsible for, and he is not just a simple casualty of fate.