OPPapers.com

Macbeth

Kysa Murdock
Mrs. Ewan
English 12
February 6 2009
How greed and avarice can change the course of ones life.
Macbeth is the only person responsible for the death of his friend Banquo and the flight of Banquo's son, Fleance. Macbeth hires murderers to kill Banquo. He chooses to murder Banquo, because he does not wish for any of Banquo's children to be in kingship. If Macbeth had only killed Fleance and spared Banquo, then Banquo could have more sons that would endanger Macbeth's position as the King of Scotland. Macbeth's desire to be king antagonized this behavior and causes him to murder Banquo. Macbeth was nervous that Banquo's son, Fleance, would somehow seize the throne of kingship from the hands of Macbeth. Although unsuccessful, Macbeth commands the murderers to kill Fleance. Auspiciously for Fleance, he runs away from this predicament as his father lay dying on the floor: "O treachery! Fly, good Fleance, fly, fly, fly!"
Although William Shakespeare may have intended Macbeth to be a play of fate, the roles of weird sisters and Lady Macbeth and the free will of Macbeth prove otherwise. The witches never empower their predictions to come true in a direct manner; Macbeth makes these suggestions a reality. The vaulting avarice and greed of Macbeth and his spouse, Lady Macbeth, lead to the death of King Duncan, Macbeth's cousin. Macbeth's choice leads to the death of Banquo, the escape of Fleance, and incites the killings of Macduff's wife and children. These points help to show the thesis that Macbeth was not meant to be a play of fate, but rather a play in which the tragic hero, along with the characters, faces reality as a result avarice and bitterness.