Give a counter-argument to fate in Macbeth€”acknowledge the argument of free will, and prove the argument of free will wrong with quotes that support...

The argument in favor ofexercising free will
is a strong one. He himself remarks,

If chance will have
me king, why, chance may crown me,
Without my stir.

In other words, if he is fated to be king, why does he not simply wait for the
operation of fate to crown him, without committing any murders? The fact that he decides not to
take this course only whenbecomes Prince of Cumberland and is named 's successor supports this
argument.also seems to be swayed by his wife's lust for power, which suggests that the decision
is ultimately his, however persuasivemay be.

However, the structure of the
play supports the notion that Macbeth is a plaything of fate. As early as act 1, scene 3, he is
informed of his new title, Thane of Cawdor, bymoments beforeand Angus bring the same news from
the king. This on its own might be a coincidence, but it is the first of many incidents in the
play that lend the witches tremendous plausibility. They even end up having the support of ,
goddess of magic. They are, in fact, always right in literal terms, though liable to
misinterpretation. Their prophecies for , who scorns the witches and takes no advice from them,
are as accurate as their prophesies for Macbeth; Banquo seems to be as fully subject to fate as
Macbeth, while taking the opposite course.

Immediately before Macbeth kills
Duncan. he sees a ghostly dagger pointing him toward Duncan's chamber. This type of
hallucination would certainly have suggested a portent to the medieval mind, or even the
Jacobean minds of Shakespeare's audience. This audience may at one point have included the new
king of England, James I, who believed himself to be a descendant of Banquo and wrote books on
witchcraft and demonologygood reasons for Shakespeare not to treat these subjects
lightly.

A final argument in favor of fate lies in Macbeth's defeat and death
at the hands of . Macbeth is the greatest warrior in Scotland. In act 1, scene 2, he is mowing
down armies of kerns and gallowglasses:

Disdaining
fortune, with his brandish'd steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution...

Why is he unable to defeat Macduff, who does not seem to have
distinguished himself in battle before? The answer is in one of the play's most famous
exchanges. Macbeth is supremely confident that he is protected by fate:

Thou losest labour:
As easy mayst thou the intrenchant
air
With thy keen sword impress as make me bleed:
Let fall thy blade on
vulnerable crests;
I bear a charmed life, which must not yield,
To one of
woman born.

The reference to "a charmed life"
clearly shows that Macbeth thinks he is protected by fate. Macduff, however, replies that he is
the man fated to destroy Macbeth:

Despair thy charm;
And
let the angel whom thou still hast served
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother's
womb
Untimely ripp'd.

This has an immediate effect on
Macbeth, who now realizes that he is fated to lose.

Accursed be that
tongue that tells me so,
For it hath cow'd my better part of man!

Macbeth dies, as he has lived throughout the play, at the hands of
fate.