“The self-fulfilling prophecy is, in the beginning, a false definition of the situation evoking a new behavior which makes the original false conception come ‘true’” (“Self-fulfilling” 1). This is a complicated statement, but when broken down and compared to an example it is easy to understand. To do this, reference to the main character of The Tragedy of Macbeth, Macbeth, is extremely helpful. In the play, Macbeth murders many people to secure himself as king of Scotland because three witches told him that he could be king. Macbeth took this fortune telling as truth and immediately assumed that he would have to kill the king. He ruined his own life because he thought it was the only way to become king and he felt justified because of the prophecy.
The first problem with Macbeth’s approach to the situation was instantly believing the witch’s prophecy and assuming that the only way they could be correct was if he turned to murder. In reality, the prophecy was intended to say that Macbeth would become king normally without the need of murder. This shows that the prophecy would come true in two different ways. Looking at the definition of a self-fulfilling prophecy, it is clear that Macbeth fits like a glove. Now that an example has been found, it is easier to understand
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what the definition means. Looking through the “Macbeth lens”, the definition can be reworded as: A prediction that will come true no matter what changes or happens. This means that even if a person that the prediction is based upon changes their mind due to the prophecy itself, the prophecy will still come true. Another problem with Macbeth’s actions is that he murdered everyone who could challenge him as an attempt to stay the king of Scotland; instead of leading the country as best as he could. Scotland starts to fall apart and the people who want to rebel against Macbeth only want to because of all of the deaths and bad leadership. They decide that Macbeth has no right to be king if he cannot make the land prosperous and increase the quality of life. In fact they were afraid that Macbeth would kill them because of the mass amount of people he was killing. Macbeth caused his own downfall by being a bad king. This helps to push the plot forward and also shows that even though a prophecy is going to come true no matter what happens, the aftermath can ruin people’s lives and even be their downfall. The fifth scene of the third act shows reference to the god Hecate, the intrinsic leader of the three witches. She blames the witches for not making it clearer to Macbeth that he would get the crown without needing to kill. Hecate provides the greatest argument of The Tragedy of Macbeth being a self-fulfilling prophecy. She is angry that Macbeth killed all these people uselessly and decided that she would have to kill Macbeth because he turned into a monster. This is such an important scene to this argument because it is the only scene that clearly shows that the prophecy could be changed, and would not affect the outcome. It did alter the way that Macbeth rose to being king, as well as how long he was king, but he was still king for at least a little amount of time and he was the Thane of Cawdor and of Glamis. This shows that, without a doubt, the prophecy is self-fulfilling. Later in the story, Macbeth receives another prophecy that makes him believe that he cannot be killed because it seems nearly impossible for him to die and follow the conditions of the prophecy. In this prophecy, Macbeth is told that he will only be killed when the Birnam Woods go to Dusinane and that he will never be harmed by anyone born from a woman. These prophecies are harder to show as self-fulfilling, so a counter argument could be made through them. The prophecy could be shown to not be self-fulfilling because they rely on many decisions from others and accidents can happen. These accidents could cause Macbeth to be scratched or bumped into which would count as a kind of harm. This argument relies on a logical fallacy, so it is incorrect. The fallacy is the belief that free will exists and that fate is controllable by a person. Psychology has proven that “human behavior was determined by influences within or outside the person” (“psychologytoday” 1). This means that a person’s actions and decisions are based on the things that happened to them within their lives and their genetics. Going to a large scale it is clear that everyone’s decisions are already going to be made the same way due to the events that are always going to happen because each person’s decisions are also going to happen. Many psychologists believe “…that the brain is no more free than is the liver or the stomach” (“psychologytoday” 1). Using this knowledge all prophecies would be self-fulfilling because the future is already fated and cannot be changed. This proves without a doubt that even though this prophecy relies on people’s thoughts and reactions to certain events, it is still self-fulfilling. The Tragedy of Macbeth is most definitely an amazing example of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The entire story relies on Macbeth’s reactions to a prophecy told to him by witches. Macbeth may have misinterpreted the true meaning of the prophecy, causing him to become a murderous fiend, but the prophecy still came true. Macbeth did become king, thane of Cawdor, and he did die by the hand of a person not born from a mother after the Birnam woods went to Dunsinane. Macbeth was a very horrible king who concentrated on staying king through the deaths of others rather than trying to be a great king and stay king that way. Even though he lives his life in the worst way imaginable all of the prophecies came
true.
The play Macbeth by William Shakespeare starts off with a noble warrior Named Macbeth that is titled thane of Glamis by his own uncle, King Duncan. Macbeth is awarded thane of Cawdor due to the switching sides of the original title holder who is hanged for treason. Macbeth who is deceived by his wife kills the king in a plot for power and they put the blame on the guards by laying bloody daggers next to them. Macbeth begins to lose himself as the play goes on. He kills his best friend Banquo and Macduff’s wife and kids. Lady Macbeth kills herself as she goes crazy from all the killings and then that is when Macbeth completely loses himself. Macbeth is told by the witches that he cannot be killed by any one of women born. Macduff and Malcolm, heir to the throne who fled Scotland think of a plan to kill Macbeth. Macbeth faces Macduff and Malcolm’s army alone as he is labeled a tyrant and is abandoned by everyone. He faces the army fearlessly as he cannot killed by any one of woman born but fails to realize that Macduff was born of C-section leading to his downfall and Macbeth is Beheaded. Malcolm becomes the new king. Lady Macbeth's deception had a dramatic effect on the play leading to a dramatic change in many lives. The three main points that will be discussed are how Lady Macbeth becomes deceived; how Lady Macbeth deceives others and the results from Lady Macbeth deceiving others. Lady Macbeth, was simply minded and became easily deceived.
The dream of becoming king has ironically changed from a bright future to a tragic end due to some of the crucial decisions Macbeth has made during the course of his journey, and a number of his actions will backfire on him. The first of his actions that backfired was when he murdered King Duncan, which he regrets afterwards. Another action that backfired was the murder of the guards, which could've drastically changed the outcome of this entire story since he could've gotten away with King Duncan's murder if he didn't commit it. The third action that backfired on Macbeth was when he ordered the murderers to murder Banquo and Fleance at which they failed to eliminate Fleance. The murder that he committed was a necessity for Macbeth in order to secure his spot as king.
At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is a trusted soldier, who is honest and noble. Unfortunately, he meets three witches who tell him three prophecies; that he will become thane of Cawdor, that he will become king and that Banquo’s sons will become kings. These three prophecies slowly change his opinions on life and turn him into a greedy, dishonest, tyrant, full of ambition. Lady Macbeth’s thoughts change as well when she is told about the three prophecies that were told to Macbeth. In the beginning of the play, Lady Macbeth is ambitious, controlling and domineering. She is the one who encourages him to kill the king, she not only encourages him, she makes all the plans herself, which shows her determination and persistence."Yet I do fear thy nature, it is too full o’th milk of human kindness. To catch the nearest way thou wouldst be great. Art not without ambition, but without the illness should attend it." (Act 1, scene 5). Lady Macbeth is the force behind Macbeth’s sudden ambition and she tries to manipulate him into feeling guilty and unmanly for not following through with the murder, by using her husbands emotions, she manages to convince Macbeth to murder Duncan.
...ueled by the debate of Fate vs. Free Will. It is unclear at first whether the events that take place, occur because they are supposed to, or because Macbeth makes them. Through further investigation it becomes clear that Macbeth is corrupting his own idea of fate, by using his free will. He thinks that his fate is something he is able to control, and continually takes steps to ensure that. While he may think what happens to him is fate, it is not. He completely takes his life into his own hands, and makes it his own. He hears what the sisters have to say, and makes his own judgments accordingly. Macbeth is a character that hears a profound destiny for himself, but shapes it in his own way.
Lady Macbeth and the three witches are responsible for Macbeth’s downfall. The three witches told Macbeth a prophecy, which led him to murder anyone in his way for more power. In page 18, When Macbeth heard that he became the new Thane of Cawdor, he thought, “If it’s my fate to be king, then fate might make me king, without me having to do anything”. This is ironic because he ended up murdering innocent people such as his best friend and Macduff’s family to stay as the King. Macbeth relied too much on the prophecies from the three witches to save him from fear. “Im determined to know the worst, by any means I can. I have to know, for my own good”(p.72). Lady Macbeth was also
To begin, we look at the first prediction of the witches. They call him by the names of ?Thane of Glamis?, which he already is, ?Thane of Cawdor? (a title he does not know he has been given), and "King hereafter." As a result, the first two things the witches tell him aren?t prophesies because they have already happened. Look at the third and most important prophecy. The witches tell Macbeth that he will become ?King Hereafter?, there?s knowledge that this actually happened. ?If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me.? (1 3) Did it happen because of fate or did Macbeth make it happen? The witches tempted Macbeth to kill the King, however, it was his own ambition that led him to do that terrible thing. Macbeth, even though he was uneasy, he chose to kill King Duncan and ascend to the throne of Scotland. ?Nothing is
Macbeth is the story of a man who falls from his noble state. In the beginning, Macbeth was a courageous fighter for Scotland's King Duncan. Macbeth is soon overcome with greed for power, so he kills the king and crowns himself. He becomes worried of losing his newly gained power causing him to kill more people. In the end the lords and nobles join forces with the king's son, Malcolm, to destroy Macbeth. In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, the character Macbeth was persuaded by the three witches to commit evil, leading to his tragic downfall.
... the witches is too mysterious. The forest came to Dunsinane meant the soldiers were hiding under cut trees, so it looked like the forest was actually moving closer. But it was just the appearance of reality. And another prophecy that he misunderstood is that only a man not born of a woman could kill him. But this prophecy only meant the man that would kill Macbeth was born by C-section, maybe that was an operation too new so that Macbeth did not know about it. But Macbeth lives long enough to see that everything came to a bad ending. No wonder he wants to die and not see the “sun” anymore. But if he felt sorry for all his wrongs, maybe he did not go to hell. Macbeth paid, just like his wife, for believing in lies and doing wrong. But Shakespeare is a genius because he found one place where liars and people who believe in magic can find an honest job: acting.
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” This quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson describes Macbeth’s character. He decides to do evil acts and crimes, consequently, he was killed. By deciding to be an awful, evil person, Macbeth’s destiny was doomed to be disastrous all along, and ends with him beheaded. The characters in the play only influenced him to do certain wrongdoing, but they could not change his destiny, only he could do that by changing his own actions.
Macbeth’s ambition to obtain power convinces him that it is his destiny to become King of Scotland, and that he should do anything to fulfill that destiny, even if it involves him committing tremendously immoral acts such as murder. After Macbeth realizes that the witches may actually speak the truth due to the second prophecy (Thane of Cawdor) becoming true, he begins to have an eerie and frightening thought of him killing his king and friend, Duncan, in order to ac...
The Tragedy of Macbeth written by William Shakespeare is a tale of a man and his un-bridled ambition, set in ancient Scotland. Macbeth is a nobleman of the king of Scotland, Duncan, who is in mid-war with Norway. Macbeth and his fellow general Banquo encounter three witches. The witches tell the pair that Macbeth will be king, and Banquo’s children will also be kings. Any person in their right mind would question information given to them by strangers, let alone witches, but for some reason these statements intrigue Macbeth. They temp Macbeth to do evil things such as treason, and worse, to kill. Although un-bridled ambition is his main tragic flaw, there is one more that plays a big role in his decisions and the outcome of the story; Macbeth is far too impressionable.
Macbeth is swaying between the forces of good and evil. He wants to stop killing but he also wants to become king and in his mind the only way to do that is to kill whoever is in his path, saying “I am in blood/ Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more,/ Returning were as tedious as go o'er.” (3.4.168-170). Macbeth is already deep into this situation and if he were to turn back now, it would cause him greater hardship than relief. Macbeth has been dealing with this inner conflict ever since he was told by the weird sisters that he is fated to become king. This conflict ties everything together, between fate versus free will and sane or insane. Macbeth started the play as being a glorified war hero, however as time moved on he transformed into a bloodthirsty tyrant. Macbeth has gone through so much that he has shifted into a guilty man haunted by nightmares and hallucinations but will not stop until he gets what he came for. Macbeth has gone so far into the void of guilt that his name has now fell into infamy, as shown by quote by Young Siward saying “The devil himself could not pronounce a title/ More hateful to mine ear.” (5.7.10-11). Macbeth had already grown a name for himself while he kept his innocence, however with all the killings macbeth has made, he has done nothing but shame his name. Macbeth name to others is more hateful and there is nothing that Siward would rather do than to end Macbeth’s life, thus ending all the guilt and evil inside
Macbeth’s visions and the prophecies of the witches cause Macbeth to make poor decisions, which lead him to his eventual downfall. Macbeth started off as a noble, virtuous man, he was loyal to the king and was well respected by the other noblemen. The prophecies and hallucinations corrupted Macbeth’s intentions and as a result, Macbeth became power hungry and overzealous. A combination of Macbeth’s ambition and paranoia lead to many senseless murders.
In order for Macbeth to become king, he killed King Duncan, which made a lot of people dislike Macbeth. MAcbeth chose to do this since he chose power over integrity. Macbeth made his image even worse as he continued to murder people and act like a fool. This led people to dislike Macbeth even more and then realize that he was not a smart King. Lastly, since Macbeth was not a likeable character he should be condemned and disdained due to his idiotic behaviors. In the end of the play, he was killed, which was the right thing to do in order to have Scotland back as a happy and striving
The witches have a strong effect on Macbeth's character; they highly influence him in his accomplishments and awake his ambitions. They give Macbeth a false sense of security with their apparitions of truths. Instead they prove to be harmful for Macbeth who takes too much comfort and confidence in his interpretation of the truths. They are the ones who plant the actual idea of killing Duncan into Macbeth's mind. But if it were only the witches prophecies, then Macbeth surely would not have murdered the king. 'When you durst to do it, then you were a man,' (Macbeth, Shakespeare Act 1 Scene 7) Lady Macbeth's constant harassment pushed Macbeth and made him commit all this evil. When you reason things out by yourself you tend to now what is right and what is wrong, a conscience. But with the outside influence from the witches he thinks that that is his destiny and he must do everything to fulfill it. One can wonder if Macbeth ever had a chance of doing what was right after he met with the witches. He is overthrown and killed. Through his own ambitions, the ambition of his wife and the witches' prophesies, Macbeth has caused his own destruction and downfall. We can now clearly see that ambition not achieved through our own ability leads to destruction. 'Hail Thane of Glamis and of Cawdor and shalt be King hereafter'. (Act 1 Scene 3) These prophecies from three strangers are taken without question and probably without good judgment. Just the thought that he may be King clouds his thoughts and ambition takes over. The witches can predict the future, they can add temptation, and influence Macbeth, but they cannot control his destiny.