Fate vs. Free Will
I do not believe that my life has been guided by fate or chance. I am a firm believer in the notion that you can do anything that you put your mind to. Additionally, I believe that the quote "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul" from the poem Invictus accurately describes my attitude towards life. I am not totally dismissing the idea of fate, I just believe that willpower can be much more impactful in one's life.
Part of my belief in free will stems from my perspective of being a citizen in a capitalist country where kids are encouraged to pursue their dreams and where the opportunity to "make it" exists for people of all race, sex, and religion (to some extent, but that's a different conversation). However, this opportunity is not universal, and in many parts of the world, children are not encouraged to pursue their dreams and do not have the resources to do so nonetheless. Therefore, if I lived in a different place with different circumstances, I might be a bigger believer in faith. However, I thankfully live in a country where I have the opportunity to be successful, and I plan to use my willpower to take advantage of that opportunity.
I believe that Shakespeare is also a believer of free will. Even though the use of the Three Witches and the impact their prophecies have on the play could be an indicator of Shakespeare's belief in fate, I think they rather serve as a tool for Shakespeare to use to make the play interesting and to relate to his audience, who, for the large part, were believers in fate. The plot of Macbeth is driven by the free will of other characters as well as Macbeth himself. Not only Macbeth, but also Lady Macbeth plays an important role by using her free will to affect Macbeth's decision-making, especially in the first two acts of the play. For instance, Lady Macbeth influences Macbeth to kill Duncan. When Macbeth states "We will proceed no further in this business," Lady Macbeth responds by humiliating him and challenging his courage: "Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valor as thou art in desire?" This leads to Macbeth killing Duncan. Even though the witches prophecies are relevant during much of the play, Shakespeare suggests that it is Macbeth's free will and the actions he takes to confirm his prophecies that determine the outcome of the play. For example, Macbeth kills Duncan himself to ensure that the prophecy of him becoming King of Scotland will be fulfilled. While Shakespeare is aware that much of his audience at the time might have been believers in fate, I believe that the plot of Macbeth reveals that he was more of a believer of free will.
Part of my belief in free will stems from my perspective of being a citizen in a capitalist country where kids are encouraged to pursue their dreams and where the opportunity to "make it" exists for people of all race, sex, and religion (to some extent, but that's a different conversation). However, this opportunity is not universal, and in many parts of the world, children are not encouraged to pursue their dreams and do not have the resources to do so nonetheless. Therefore, if I lived in a different place with different circumstances, I might be a bigger believer in faith. However, I thankfully live in a country where I have the opportunity to be successful, and I plan to use my willpower to take advantage of that opportunity.
I believe that Shakespeare is also a believer of free will. Even though the use of the Three Witches and the impact their prophecies have on the play could be an indicator of Shakespeare's belief in fate, I think they rather serve as a tool for Shakespeare to use to make the play interesting and to relate to his audience, who, for the large part, were believers in fate. The plot of Macbeth is driven by the free will of other characters as well as Macbeth himself. Not only Macbeth, but also Lady Macbeth plays an important role by using her free will to affect Macbeth's decision-making, especially in the first two acts of the play. For instance, Lady Macbeth influences Macbeth to kill Duncan. When Macbeth states "We will proceed no further in this business," Lady Macbeth responds by humiliating him and challenging his courage: "Art thou afeard to be the same in thine own act and valor as thou art in desire?" This leads to Macbeth killing Duncan. Even though the witches prophecies are relevant during much of the play, Shakespeare suggests that it is Macbeth's free will and the actions he takes to confirm his prophecies that determine the outcome of the play. For example, Macbeth kills Duncan himself to ensure that the prophecy of him becoming King of Scotland will be fulfilled. While Shakespeare is aware that much of his audience at the time might have been believers in fate, I believe that the plot of Macbeth reveals that he was more of a believer of free will.
I really enjoyed your blog post, probably because I think very similarly. I think that free will is very important in Macbeth, and in life in general, because people should be held responsible for their own successes and failures, their own good deeds and wrongdoings. Like you said, maybe Macbeth was driven to kill King Duncan as a result of Lady Macbeth's free will, but he still had to choose to take his own actions. I also really enjoyed how you tied this back to America's mentality about hard work and opportunity.
ReplyDeleteI would totally agree and I just read Cassidy's blog which talks about the same thing. I definitely understand the idea of how being in a capitalist country has led you to this belief in free will but yet you are able to acknowledge that there is probably some notion of fate. However, what is really cool is how this balance between fate and free will appear in christianity and fit really well to the ideals of Shakespeare. I feel like it fits perfectly to Macbeth as you were saying, in so many cases he had the ability to make the decisions and so did other characters, they ultimately aligned with the prophecy and brought it to fruition but each choice was out of free will. I believe that God works in a very similar way as he gives us free will to make decisions yet ultimately has a perfect plan for our lives. Our choices are ours and ours alone but they will just change and effect the way we arrive and fulfill his ultimate plan for us. Its a really cool analysis and I definitely think in addition to capitalism, the ideals of christianity support it. If you get the chance check out Cassidy's blog too!
ReplyDeletehttps://cassiblogs.blogspot.com/2017/11/blog-6-witch-slapped.html?showComment=1512865566800#c5009154942722127428
I completely agree that Macbeth's actions were caused by his own free will. I liked how you commented on how fate might have been included in Macbeth just to make it more interesting or appealing to his audience. And yeah, I agree that Lady Macbeth influenced him to kill Duncan, but it's not like Macbeth didn't already have some idea or want to become king himself. I think Lady Macbeth's humiliation was just the final push to actually get him to kill the king. I really enjoyed how you talked about hard work and access to opportunities in this country (I also very much appreciate how you acknowledged that not everyone has the same access to the same extent). Overall, I enjoyed reading your thoughts on opportunities and on Macbeth. Also, I want to say that the accent you did in class while reading the last act of the play was great, just great.
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