Mary Wlodyka

November 12, 2018

ELA IV, Honors
Literary Analysis Essay
Macbeth: Evil or Not
As described by Merriam-Webster, fate is “an inevitable and often adverse outcome, condition, or
end.”. Fate exists in the presence or absence of faith. For someone who believes in a higher being, fate is
the predetermined path that has been set and can be controlled by a higher being, for good or bad. Even
within the lives of non-believers of any religion or higher power, fate acts as a beacon to guide them
throughout their lives. Those who do not have faith in anything are still affected by it in their fate
because all fates interlace through the interaction with people; something had to originally decide what
their fate would be. Actions people take to reach their goals can be dependent upon the faith they may
have because of the moral view of it, good or evil. For example, a Christian abstains from sinning because
they do not want to be sent to Hell or Muslims do not eat pork because it makes them morally unclean
and it has the ability to effect the type of person they may become, those are just examples of fate, no one
will become a different person overnight because of pork. Fate is the journey to reaching a goal as well as
the destination; many describe fate as a moment that “was just meant to happen,” however it is the actions
leading up to that moment as well. This ideal is portrayed in Macbeth through his greed to become king
and make himself powerful; he did not recognize what he did was wrong and continued to hurt others. In
The Tragedy of Macbeth, William Shakespeare utilizes diction and imagery to emphasize the idea that
fate is permanent and unfair to all.
While fate can be beneficial or detrimental to a person, Shakespeare highlights the negative side
by using light and dark imagery. In Act V, when Macbeth finds out that his wife died, his response was
“all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death” (Macbeth 5. 5. 23-24). Living life as a
lighted fool means to stand out against everyone else, still making mistakes lessening their lives while
expecting something that is greater than what they have. This emphasizes the absurdity of what life really
is; fools attempting to live a positive life all while illuminating the path towards death. It is unfair to the
fools because they are incapable of figuring out that they will get nothing more than they already have.
On the other, yet similar hand, those who do not believe life can not get any better than it currently is, live
very depressing lives. They do not believe that they can do any better than what they have currently
because they are not striving for a purpose in their lives. Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, are able to
manipulate fate for themselves as well as others by murdering those above them in order to advance their
status in the kingdom, thus inviting darkness around them because it is their cover to execute their worst
actions (Mullan 2016). Through their acceptance of the inevitable fate of death, they become familiar
with darkness and keeping it for themselves when carrying out their horrid actions. They were murdering
those ahead of them to speed up the process of gaining power. In doing so, they both drive themselves
insane because of the heavy toll the darkness plays on them, this connects to Shakespeare's use of light
and dark in elaboration of fate by exemplifying the two paths that people can fall to, good or evil. In
Macbeth, they were both destined to destroy themselves, making them fools for believing that anything
else would happen to them. Leading a dark path through the manipulation of others prolonged their
demise.
Through the telling of Macbeth, the idea that fate cannot be altered but is able to be predicted is
displayed through the descriptions of the witches and the effects they have on those around them. In Lady
Macbeth, the first witch expresses that she is knowledgeable of the future, however she does not have the
power to alter it in any way (Wilson 7). In the story the witches represent the past, present, and future;
they are able to tell Lady Macbeth what her husbands future is but they are not able to meddle in outcome
of her husband’s fate. This moment in Lady Macbeth is important because rather than being the three
witches who can control all time around them, they are acting as psychics because they were being paid to
tell Lady Macbeth her husbands future. This showcases the fact that no matter who’s fate it is, whether it
is good or evil, it can not be changed, no matter what supernatural forces are being used, like the power of
the witches, who are thought of having control over time and people. In the article Shakespeare After
Theory, by Michael Hays, he expresses that in Macbeth, the witches said Hail to Macbeth once but to
Malcolm they say it a twice (Hays 2001). This was a subliminal message towards their futures, Macbeth
will be hailed as King but it will not be for long because Banquo’s son’s future will work itself into action
and will push Macbeth’s out of line. The witches were able to manipulate Macbeth’s dream of being king
indefinitely, making him the idiot for believing that anyone else’s true fate could be cut short because of
his own. The role the witches are able to create is voicing what they see in Macbeth’s future, little does he
know they are not telling him the whole truth; nevertheless, they are unable to change anything about his
life, only manipulate the way they speak to make him believe they are supernatural.
Shakespeare use of bold diction to enhance the fact Macbeth sees himself as a god, developing
unintelligence through his ignorance to admit he has no control, that fate is what controls the endpoints of
life.
For Banquo's issue have I fil'd my mind;
For them the gracious Duncan have I murder'd;
Put rancours 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! (3. 1. 65-75)
Macbeth was speaking to himself about all of the things he had done thus far in order to put himself in the
position of king. He expresses how he has spent a large amount of time thinking about Banquo’s son and
then having to murder the “gracious Duncan” because he could not get over his greed for power. The
inconveniences this has rest upon him highlight his stupidity because he created his own problem by
attempting to change his fate. Shakespeare’s decision to use the phrase “eternal jewel” that parallels with
the passage in the Bible where Jesus creates an analogy between a pearl, being the jewel, and the soul.
However by saying that it is a common problem amongst all men is taking away from his narcissistic
view of himself as a god. The most important part to focus on is that he is giving the everlasting part of
himself to the devil in order to to rule the world, contradicting in the Bible where the man is giving up
this eternal part of himself to get into heaven. This highlights his stupidity because he is willing to give up
the one thing that he truly possesses in order to change his predestined fate. Later, Macbeth begins to give
up while in the battle expresses he “wish th’ estate o’ th’ world were now undone” (5. 5. 49). He is hoping
the world will unravel in chaos around him as he begins to decrease what he is doing in the world.
Bringing the idea of his unintelligence because he can not accept the fact that he is not in control; he is the
only one who views himself as a god worthy of worship. As God takes away the light in the world, it
people begin to wreck havoc with everything around them, that is what Macbeth wants to happen as soon
as he lets up on what he assumed his position to be.
Shakespeare’s dismissive diction choice portrays the idea that fate is predetermined for every
individual and despite actions taken by a person, cannot be changed. After driving herself insane from
guilt because of aiding in the murders of several people, Lady Macbeth kills herself, the darkness of her
actions led to her demise; Macbeth finds out and his first instinct is to blatantly say “she should have died
hereafter” (5. 5. 17). His response is comfortable, almost familiar with death because of how many people
he has killed. Understanding, death is unavoidable, however her life had suddenly been cut short due to
her own hand. The darkness of her actions led her to her demise, if she had not died previously, it was
bound to happen, as life itself will end in death. At one point, Lady Macbeth even expresses “all that live
must die” (Wilson 3). Though this sounds morbid it highlights her understanding that this fate is
inevitable, no matter what a person does they will end up where they were predisposed to be, good or evil.
Lady Macbeth had killed other people with no hesitation but as soon as she realized the weight of her
actionse she could not deal with the truth, causing her to take her own life. In this moment, she does not
know that she will end up killing herself, creating irony of the situation, showing that the ultimate fate for
everyone is death, where they go thereafter is dependent upon the faith that person encompasses.
Shakespeare’s critical word choice describing people throughout their lives suggests the
unintelligence that accompanies their life long unrealistic expectations. Macbeth describes life as “a tale
told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing” (Macbeth 5. 5. 26-28). A story without plot, a
racecar without the roar of the engine; Macbeth believes that life is meaningless and there is no way to
look at it to create any deeper meaning than there already is. Saying that there is no significance
highlighted in someone’s life lessens the person as a whole, making them unintelligent for believing that
they are worth more than their true value. Looking at it, this is unfair to the idiots because they do not
understand that their lives have no meaning. It does not depend on the perspective that their lives are
viewed in or elaborate details they seem to add, nothing of any importance can be created. People become
imbeciles for not believing in the inequitable truth of life that people who spend years searching for their
purpose will die before it is found, their purpose is predisposed by fate, and seeking for it will leave one
shorthanded and empty. It had been explained by Macbeth that all people are just actors who wait for
their big break on stage, they go out and give their best performance, and the moment it is over they have
no purpose and bring nothing else to the world, in their death they are forgotten and their footprints are
erased (5. 5. 26-27). Finding any purpose in life is most everyone’s goal; they center their lives around
this one motivation. Eventually fabricating this vacuum effect, putting everything they have that brings
any type of importance to life into this goal, and then they look at after it is done and it lacks all the
meaning that it was supposed to have.
Many see fate as something that is seemingly ever changing but it is not. It is already set in stone;
actions, feelings, outcomes. They have all already been laced together, creating life. Fate will always
follow its predetermined course, whether that was done by a higher power or not. Fate can not exist
without faith, however one does not need to believe in a religion in order to have a fate. Whether or not a
person accepts the idea of fate, it will follow itself through. In Macbeth, it is shown how he could not
accept his own fate no matter how it was told to him. This gave a deeper insight to how god-like he
believed himself to be. He continuously tried to redirect his fate to a more positive and self fulfilling
direction by murdering others, but nothing he tried worked so he was stuck with the inevitable end: death.
Through diction and imagery, Shakespeare was able to develop the theme that fate is unable to be altered
and unfair to its beholder.

Works Cited
Mullan, John. “Conjuring Darkness in Macbeth.” Discovering Literature: Shakespeare &
Renaissance, The British Library, 15 Mar. 2016,
www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/conjuring-darkness-in-macbeth.
Hays, Michael L. "Shakespeare After Theory." Comparative Drama, vol. 35, no. 1, 2001, pp.
125-138. ProQuest,
http://ezproxy.cpcc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/211706824?account
id=10008.
Shakespeare, William, and John Crowther. No Fear Shakespeare: Macbeth. Spark, 2003.
Wilson, David H. The Tragedy of Lady Macbeth. 6 Feb. 1995,
hopecorner.net/downloads/dhw43.pdf.