What really controls us?
and can we avoid it
Here's what I'm thinking: fate is out there, ruling all of us,
but no one knows it. It
controls us in ways we can't understand or even predict,
and affects us all in different variations. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Fate put Macbeth in a very interesting predicament, but nonetheless it was something beyond his control. External forces are completely inescapable and we are merely the victims of those forces.
Some would argue that Macbeth was in charge of his life, but I would say no. He was given a prophecy, and one way or another that prophecy was being fulfilled. The witches are a direct representation of that. They tell him what his fate is going to be (in creative ways, I might add) even though he is totally oblivious to their hints. At first, they tell him "All Hail, Macbeth. Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!" (1.3 52). Now, he is not yet Thane of Cawdor but eventually, after the witches disappear, Macbeth is brought with the news that he is now the Thane and the prophecy
they have predicted has been fulfilled. Then, the witches tell him, “All Hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” (1.3 53), implying that Macbeth will at some point be king. This comes as a shock to him and gets him thinking: will the reign of king fall to him, or will he have to do some evil deeds to get there? This is when he decides to kill the already existing king, Duncan. After Macbeth does kill Duncan, he gets the title of king like the witches said he would (fate comes into play yet again). But, when the witches were talking to Macbeth, Banquo was also there, and they said to Banquo, “Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none!” (1.3 70-71), basically saying that Banquo would not be king, but his sons would. This would be after Macbeth’s rule. So, after Macbeth goes and kills Duncan and his guilty conscience is running around like a hamster on a wheel, Macbeth thinks about what the witches said. He got a crown he couldn’t pass on, for he had no sons. Eventually, someone
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Here's what I'm thinking: fate is out there, ruling all of us, but no one knows it. It controls us in ways we can't understand or even predict, and affects us all in different variations. In the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, Fate put Macbeth in a very interesting predicament, but nonetheless it was something beyond his control. External forces are completely inescapable and we are merely the victims of those forces.
Some would argue that Macbeth was in charge of his life, but I would say no. He was given a prophecy, and one way or another that prophecy was being fulfilled.
The witches are a direct representation of Macbeth's fate. They tell him what his fate is going to be even though he is totally oblivious to their hints.
In act 1 scene 1, the witches say to Macbeth, "All Hail, Macbeth. Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor," (17). Eventually, after they disappear, Macbeth is brought with the news that he is now the Thane and the prophecy they have predicted has been fulfilled. In act 4 scene 1, the witches tell him, “Beware Macduff! Beware the Thane of Fife!,”(125) foreshadowing that Macduff will eventually kill Macbeth, yet Macbeth has no idea. There’s nothing he can do about it-his life is going to be ended one way or another. It’s just how fate works out. They also tell him, “Laugh to scorn/The power of man, for none of woman born/Shall harm Macbeth,” (125), saying that no one born from a woman can harm Macbeth; little does he know that the one who eventually kills him was never born from a woman after all. It’s his (unfortunate) destiny to be killed by Macduff and life has to run it’s course. Finally, the witches tell him that, “Macbeth shall never vanquished be until/Great Birnam Wood to high Dusinane Hill/Shall come against him,” (127). Incidentally, on the night Macbeth was killed, his attackers brought branches from Birnam Wood onto Dusinane Hill and made it seem as though the forest was moving onto the hill. It seems as though fate made that happen and made those soldiers pick up those branches to bring Macbeth his end.
Clearly, Macbeth’s fate was all laid out for him in advance, and there was nothing he could to alter or compromise it. The witches merely acted as the hand of fate, explaining to Macbeth what would become of his life. No matter what he did, his fate was ultimately inescapable; it’s something set in advance at the beginning of our days, following us our entire lifetime. Life has to run it’s course and we, as powerless humans, have to let it go. Sure it kinda sucks, but it can also be good. In my opinion, people would never be where they are today if they hadn’t let fate do what they need to do. Bill Gates wouldn’t be rich, Steve Jobs wouldn’t have created Apple. Everyone’s fate eventually brings them where they need to be, and it has been that way for ages. Even someone so possessive over power as Macbeth let fate take control, and in the end he got what life had in store for him