The Power of Fate

One of the overarching themes in Macbeth is the power of fate. Fate is the concept that life is predetermined, that is, that one’s experiences are inevitable and will happen regardless of one’s actions. When the witches prophesize that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor and king, Macbeth accepts this as his fate. To be fair, it does seem like the witches know what they’re talking about, since they have barely delivered the prophecy before Macbeth is being named Thane of Cawdor. And again, later in the play, when Macbeth does in fact become king, it’s tempting to think that these events really were predestined. But what if they weren’t? What if the power of fate only existed in Macbeth’s mind, and he ended up where he did as a result of his own free will? Certainly his actions were heavily influenced by fate either way; but in one scenario, he killed Duncan because this was the inescapable destiny set for him by some higher power, and in the other, whether he killed Duncan or not was completely up to him—but he chose to because he was convinced that it was unavoidable. Of course, only Shakespeare will ever know the answer. Either way, it’s interesting to consider whether Macbeth was in control of himself or not, and if he was, to think about how his belief that he wasn’t impacted his actions.