Examples Of Free Will In Macbeth

We all have ownership over something. Whether it is oneself, another person, or a possession, we obtain control. In Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth, there is a question as to whether or not Macbeth is driven by fate or free will. Throughout the play Macbeth, written by Shakespeare, Macbeth acts upon the prophecies given to him by three witches. Some may consider the satisfaction of these witches' expectations as a reasonable sign that Macbeth's way is a destined one, bound to happen. Instead, the witches' prophecies for Macbeth, his remorseful remarks after the death of King Duncan and the execution of Banquo demonstrate that it is through freewill – and not fate – that decided the course of Shakespeare's play. Macbeth has the free will …show more content…
It is apparent that Macbeth does control his own destiny when Macbeth murders Duncan he ultimately reveals the consequences of his actions. “Whence is that knocking?— How is’t with me, when every noise appals me? What hands are here! Ha, they plu ck out mine eyes. Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather The multitudinous seas incarnadine, Making the green one red.” Act 2, scene 2, lines 55–61. Macbeth says this when he has quite recently killed Duncan, and the wrongdoing was joined by powerful omens. Presently he hears a secretive thumping on his door, which appears to guarantee fate. The individual thumping is Macduff, who will for sure in the end the life Macbeth. The tremendousness of Macbeth's wrongdoing has stirred in him an effective feeling of blame that will hound him all through the play. Blood, particularly Duncan's blood, serves as the image of that blame, and Macbeth's feeling that "all great Neptune's sea" can't rinse him—that there is sufficient blood staring him in the face to turn the whole ocean red—will stay with him until his death. Lady Macbeth’s answer to this dialogue will be her prosaic remark, “A little water clears us of this deed” (2.2.65). By the conclusion of the play, she will share Macbeth's sense that Duncan's homicide has irreparably recolored them with

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