Fate and Free Will

The Theme in the Work

The play poses the question in scene 3 of Act I: the witches greet Macbeth as future king and promise Banquo that his sons will be kings, and the two read the promises in opposite ways. Banquo suspects that evil tells small truths to betray in great ones, and Macbeth, on learning of the naming of Malcolm in scene 4 of Act I, completes the reasoning alone, which the prophecy does not do.

In scene 1 of Act III, the reasoning turns against him: if Banquo's heirs will be kings, his own sons will not inherit the crown, and it is for Banquo's heirs that he has debased his own soul. In scene 5 of Act III, Hecate promises to prepare illusions that will lead him to scorn Destiny and to trust too much in himself.

In scene 1 of Act IV, the three apparitions tell the truth, and he reads them as a guarantee: no man born of woman can harm Macbeth, and he will be defeated only if the wood of Birnam marches against him. In scene 5 of Act V, on learning that the wood is moving, he begins to suspect how the devil plays with words, and in scene 7 of Act V Macduff tells him that he was torn from his mother's womb before his time.

Before any apparition, the play already shows Macbeth trying to separate destiny from action. In scene 3 of Act I, he thinks that if Chance wants to make him king, it can crown him without his acting. In scene 5 of Act I, Lady Macbeth reads the letter and speaks of the crown as the golden circle with which Destiny and supernatural help seem to have crowned him, and she decides to push him so that he reaches it quickly. In scene 1 of Act III, already king, Macbeth reacts to the prophecy about Banquo's sons by asking that Destiny enter the contest and challenge him to the end, instead of waiting for it to be fulfilled.

In the final acts he tries to close the gaps of destiny with his own hands. In scene 1 of Act IV, after hearing that no man born of woman can harm Macbeth, he concludes that Macduff could still live, but decides to double the security, ask guarantees from Destiny, and kill him anyway. In scene 3 of Act V, he scorns the flight of the thanes because the promise about Birnam wood has not yet been fulfilled. In scene 7 of Act V, even after learning that the wood has reached Dunsinane and that Macduff was not born as other men are, he refuses to surrender and decides to fight to the end.

The play never decides whether Macbeth was predestined. What it shows is the reading he makes: in the apparitions he hears guarantees where the words left a gap, and the fulfillment comes through the letter, through human means, branches, and a birth before its time. The question stays open, but the play makes clear that each step he took, from the crime to Banquo and to the massacre at Fife, was taken with the prophecy at his side and the decision his own.

Where It Appears

• Scene 3 of Act I: The witches greet Macbeth as future king and promise Banquo that his sons will be kings; Banquo suspects the partial truth, and Macbeth already imagines a murder.
• Scene 4 of Act I: Duncan names Malcolm Prince of Cumberland, and Macbeth sees in the title a step in his path, although the witches' prophecy does not speak of killing.
• Scene 1 of Act III: Alone, Macbeth admits that the prophecy about Banquo's sons gnaws at him, since he killed Duncan for their benefit, and he convinces two murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance.
• Scene 5 of Act III: Hecate rebukes the witches for having dealt with Macbeth without calling her and promises illusions that will lead him to scorn Destiny and trust too much in himself.
• Scene 1 of Act IV: The apparitions tell Macbeth that no man born of woman can harm him and that only the wood of Birnam marching against him will defeat him, and then he decides to massacre Macduff's family.
• Scene 5 of Act V: A Messenger swears he sees the wood of Birnam advancing, and Macbeth, shaken, begins to doubt the promise about Birnam that deluded him and runs to arms.
• Scene 7 of Act V: Macbeth says he bears an enchanted life that no man born of woman can end, and Macduff answers that he was torn from his mother's womb before his time.

Passages

The greeting that Banquo and Macbeth hear together:

Hecate describes what brings the fall:

The second apparition:

Macduff's revelation: