Destiny = Choice + Chance

I do not think that the events in my life have been guided by fate. I think my life is guided by chance and the decisions that I make. Some people may believe that when things work out perfectly for them that it is fate, but then they forget about the bad things that happen, the ones that happen for no real reason at all. People cannot call the good things fate and the bad things chance. It has to be either one or the other, and I think it is chance. For example, an event in my life that happened by chance was when I was in a car accident because somebody ran into me while I was sitting at a red light. It was not fate that put my car in the exact place for the other car to run into it, because there was no reason for it.

The events in my life have also been guided by my decisions. Each person’s life is undetermined and each decision that someone makes puts him or her in a direction that can be changed by the next decision.  For example, when I get accepted into colleges, I believe it is because of my decision to work hard in school and get good grades, as well as my decision to do many extracurricular activities. I do not believe that it was my fate to go to college, because I would not have gotten in if I did not decide to do the things I had to do in order to be accepted.

Based on the text of Macbeth, I think that Shakespeare’s attitude towards fate was not exactly the same as my attitude; however, I do think that he believed decisions also played a part in someone’s future. Shakespeare includes predictions in the story that correctly prophesize Macbeth’s future. For example, in Act 1 Scene 3, the Third Witch says “All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!” This is told to Macbeth very early on in the story, and he wonders how he will become king as there is already a king, however, he ends up killing the king so that he takes the king’s place. It is hard to know if Macbeth would have become king without doing anything to promote it. Honestly, I do not think he would have. I think the prophecy caused him to want to become king so bad that he made it happen. He even starts to make excuses to continue achieving the prophecy, for example at one point in Act 3 Scene 4 he says, “I am in blood stepped so far that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er.” If he had just stopped (or not even started) killing people that were going to get in the way of him becoming king, he may not have become king, but also he would not have done anything bad. I think that Shakespeare believed somewhat in fate (since the prophecy did end up being correct), however, I think he also believed that Macbeth’s decisions played a role in fulfilling the prophecy.