beth and Banquo about their futures.This makes it seem as if the witches have a human like desire for power, personified intheir quest to affect the outcome of time. This desire, which seems to be the root of theiractions, also becomes the root of Macbeth's eventual fall from power. Macbeth'sover-zealousness for political power led him to the murder of Duncan, the assassinationof Banquo, and finally the slaughter of MacDuff's family. These events spur therevolution that eventually costs Macbeth his crown and his life, not to mention the wifehe loses along the way.Now, many can argue that Macbeth is to be pitied because of the hand fate deals him,but there are other facets of this situation to be considered. For instance, does Macbethactually have a choice over what he will do or become? To many the answer might be"No," but in reality, as we all must know from everyday life, the answer is "Yes,Macbeth, and any human being for that matter, does have limited control over theoutcome of his or her life based on decisions he or she makes at certain critical times inlife." These critical times are momentous occasions; for Macbeth, deciding whether ornot to kill Duncan was one of these moments. Other decisions humans make do notseem to have as much impact as the major ones; for instance, whether to be black or redin a game of checkers is not likely to have any impact on whether you die of old age ora decapitation. However, these decisions, as every action does, affect something. Thesesmall decisions can lead one slightly off of one path and eventually onto another course.The witches seem to know that whether or not Macbeth chooses to wear his gold armoror his silver armor will not affect his receiving the crown, and whether or not he killsDuncan will drastically effect when Macbeth will receive the crown. According to fate,the witches cannot directly effect whether or not Macbeth becomes king because thatevent is already predetermined, but they...
