From: "Choice." Pinterest.com. Cold Brew Labs, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
<https://www.pinterest.com/edssl/evan-and-adam-eng-3ui-04/>.
In my personal opinion, I believe that the events in my life have overall been guided by fate. I would say that this has been true 99% of the time. The other 1% I would accredit to the few chance events that I have encountered in my life. For the majority of my life, I think that my actions control how my life turns out. However, I believe that actions can determine fate. If I chose to go one path, fate would determine how well my life would turn out. I try to do everything I can to live a happy life, but sometimes obstacles do come up in my way. I think it is important to live life with a positive attitude and to not over-think the little things.
Personally, I think that my fate has been influenced by my faith in God. I consider myself a Christian even though my Russian heritage says I am Eastern Orthodox. But, when I go to my Russian church, they seem to follow the same beliefs as Christians. I am still fairly new to the whole "faith" thing and believing in God, but I know that there is a God who is looking over me. I feel like if I believe in God, that His path for me will turn out in the way He thinks is best, despite what my actions may be. For now, I would say that my actions influence my fate more than my faith because my faith is still a new experience for me. As for chance, I think that just happens because of luck. I actually think that luck is real. It is very rare that I encounter luck in my favor since most of the time I have to work very hard to achieve a goal. Chance events always happen to me at the times where I least expect it. Usually, it involves certain people I meet, when I do unexpectedly well in a class, or when I place well in a race. In fact, those moments are some of the best moments of my life.
Based on the text of Macbeth, I think that Shakespeare's attitude towards fate was indifferent and presented through Macbeth. For example, when the three witches come and visit Macbeth to tell him about the prophecies, Macbeth doesn't really react to them in any kind of way. He wasn't really happy, scared, or against what the witches told him. Macbeth chooses to believe that the prophecies are true. He thinks about the prophecies and according to the witches, knows that Duncan's sons' will become King. That is a predetermined fate and Macbeth acts to set up a plot to kill Duncan so that he can become King instead.
Lady Macbeth sees that he is weak in deciding to go through with the murder, so she uses tactics of threatening, demand, and even begging to inspire him to do the deed.When Lady Macbeth receives Macbeth's letter telling of the witches' prophecies, she is afraid that he will not take advantage of his opportunity to take the crown, "Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem / To have thee crown'd withal". This is her basically assuming that fate doesn't play a role in what will happen. In order to be king, Macbeth is going to have to murder Duncan whether he likes it or not. That doesn't change what his fate will turn out to be. Eventually, his actions will lead him there. It is clear however, that the supernatural doesn't control Macbeth's actions. Macbeth has choice in his actions, and I think that deep down, he really did want to become king. I also think that is why when Banquo becomes suspicious of Macbeth in killing Duncan, that he arranges for Banquo's murder as well. There isn't any way that chance could play a role in Macbeth's actions because he is the one who eventually decides what to do.
Works Cited
Weller, Philip. "Annotated List of Passages Related to the Theme of Macbeth and
Fate." Shakespeare-navigators.com. Philip Weller, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/macbeth/Fate.html>.
