Fate Vs Free Will In Macbeth

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Abraham Lincoln once said, “You can be anything you want to be”. He believed that free will is enough to allow people to be what they want to be. On the other side, tales such as Greek mythology speak of inescapable destinies locked in by fate. Whether the fate is targeted at a god or a hero, he tries everything to eschew the prophecy, except the fate always comes true; often the free will’s resistance against the fate acts as the root of the fate. One of William Shakespeare’s plays, Macbeth, revolves around issues involving fate and free will. The main character Macbeth is seen attempting to invalidate unfavorable prophecies by his free will. Macbeth is not under complete free will, but he is a mere victim of ruthless psychological manipulation disguised in the name of fate; it leads him to the “fates” that should never have occurred. Although Macbeth is seen committing a lot of evil, his true free will illustrates no evidence of good or evil. It is clear that Macbeth is loyal to the king and has no intention of harming Duncan. When Duncan apologizes to Macbeth for not having repaid his deeds to the kingdom, Macbeth replies back saying that “the service and the loyalty I owe in doing it pays itself. Your highness’ part is to receive our duties,” (Shakespeare 1.4.25-27). Even when his wife talks him into murdering Duncan, Macbeth replies, “we will proceed no further in this business. He hath honored me of late, and I have bought Golden opinions from all sorts of people” (Shakespeare 1.7.34-36). Clearly, not only does Macbeth lack the motive to harm the king, but he also has the “Golden opinions” from people; killing the king to fulfill the prophecy would only obliterate the “Golden opinions”. Furthermore, it is evident that the i... ... middle of paper ... ...anding performance. “Formed through the interplay of past performance… teacher expectancies have an undeniable influence on students’ learning. Skinner and Belmont (1993) point out the following about teacher behavior: 1) Teacher behavior influences students’ perceptions of their interactions with teachers. 2) Teacher behavior influences student engagement.” (Bruns 3) Even after ordering, Lady Macbeth shows high expectation from his husband as a man. “When you durst do it, then you were a man; and to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man” (Shakespeare 1.7.56-58). Whether Macbeth is within a respect for knowledge, under an authority, over an authority, or even just onto a mere high expectation, extremely brutal psychological pressure surrounds Macbeth and coerces him toward the “fate” rather than the fate itself being necessarily being true.

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