Fate

1. Fate By Sienna Smith & Nicole Kambouris

2. Definition: Fate is the development of events outside a person’s control, regarded as predetermined by a supernatural power. Other words for Fate include: • Destiny • Fortune • Outcome

3. Fate plays a large role in Shakespeare's Macbeth. We see throughout the play how many of the characters try to tempt fate. Macbeth does it and so does Lady Macbeth. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are seen trying to force fate to change by interfering with the witches predictions of their future.

4. Act 1 In act one the witches reveal Macbeths fate to him by telling him that he will be the Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor and King. This encourages Macbeth to start thinking about his future and what he could do to speed up the process of becoming king. In scene 3 Macbeth says ‘If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, Without my stir’. He is saying that he believes he could become king without having to kill anyone.

5. Act 2 In act 2 Macbeth interferes with fate when he kills the King, after this King Duncan's sons run away in fear that they may be next. ‘What should be spoken here, where our fate, Hid in an auger-hole, may rush and seize us? Let’s away. Our tears are not yet brewed.’ Donalbain says to Malcolm in an aside. Macbeth is crowned King just like the witches predicted.

6. Act 3 In act 3 Macbeth expresses his fears about Banquo because he cannot forget the witches prophecy that Banquo’s descendants will become king. ‘To be thus is nothing, But to be safely thus. Our fears in Banquo Stick deep, and in his royalty of nature Reigns that which would be feared. 'Tis much he dares, And to that dauntless temper of his mind He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valor. To act in safety. There is none but he Whose being I do fear, and under im My genius is rebuked, as it is said Mark Antony’s was by Caesar. He chid the sisters When first they put the name of king upon me And bade them speak to him. Then, prophetlike, They hailed him father to a line of kings. Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown And put a barren scepter in my grip, Thence to be wrenched with an unlinealhand, No son of mine succeeding. If ’t be so, For Banquo’s issue have I filed my mind; For them the gracious Duncan have I murdered; Put rancors in the vessel of my peace. Only for them; and mine eternal jewel Given to the common enemy of man, To make them kings, the seed of Banquo kings! Rather than so, come fate into the list, And champion me to th' utterance. Who’s there?’. Macbeth interferes with his own and Banquo’s fate by persuading three murderers to kill Banquo and his son, Fleance. Banquo is killed, but Fleance escapes.

7. Act 4 In act 4 after Macbeth and Lady Macbeth host their first dinner as King and Queen. Where Macbeth sees Banquo’s ghost which terrifies him. The next morning he decides to visit the witches and they show him mysterious visions of his fate. The witches tell him three things; ‘The first says beware the thane of Fife! Macbeth says thanks, The second is a bloody child, he speaks Macbeth, no man born from a woman shall harm Macbeth. The third is a child crowned with a tree in his hand he says that when the forest comes to the castle Macbeth would be undone. Macbeth laughs on these premonitions saying that no man shall ever touch him for all men are born of women, and the forest will never meet the castle because trees cannot move themselves.’ This changes Macbeths view of his fate because he now believes that no one can harm him.

8. Act 5 In the final act, act 5, Lady Macbeth alters Macbeths fate when she kills herself because Macbeth is now alone and doesn’t know how to deal with all that has happened and will happen in the future because Lady Macbeth was the one that made many of his decisions for him. “She should have died hereafter. There would have been a time for such a word. Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools, The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.” Macbeths says after he found out about his wife’s death, his reaction was unexpected as he knew it would end up happening anyway. Macbeth’s fate is also changed when Macduff comes after him because he believed that no man would kill him, but Macduff does. This changes everyone’s fate especially King Duncan's sons because they now have a chance to become king in the future.

9. Universal idea of fate When Mary met Prince Frederick at the Sydney Olympics it was her fate to become a Princess. Just like if Macbeth hadn’t of met and talked to the witches, he would’ve never known that he would one day become king and he wouldn’t of gone mad.

10. The language techniques used in Macbeth include: • Metaphors - "Fair is foul and foul is fair.“ This is part of the witches' conversation. This phrase is a metaphor that describes the state of affairs within Macbeth and without in Scotland. Evil and sinister things have taken the place of all that is good and just. • Similes - "And pity, like a naked new-born babe." Shakespeare is comparing pity to the helplessness of a new-born infant. • Imagery - The imagery includes many recurring images, related with many of the themes of the play. The imagery of the Reality and the Appearances and the Witches, the Light and the Darkness are wonderfully merged in Macbeth. The imagery of Sleep is also associated with the Death as “Macbeth does murder sleep”.

11. Macbeth is a classic because it explores many different types of themes including betrayal, tragedy, power and fate. It also explores situations that we experience in our everyday lives and relate to both ancient and modern times.

12. Why we study Shakespeare… We believe that we study Shakespeare because it allows us to enter into a state of mind different from our own and therefore enlarging our imagination.