Predetermination in Macbeth

TheBegotten

Not 100% sure if this is the right place to put this, but the last place I want to end up is some snobby litrachoor message-board in the back arse of the internet :pac:

Has anybody studied predetermination, fate versus free-will and (minorly) the precognition paradox as an aspect of the theme as regards Macbeth? I think it would be an interesting topic to explore, but if none of the English teachers in the country have given a thought to it I doubt they would mark it highly; particularly as it focuses on more metaphysical arguments rather than literary ones.

oncex

TheBegotten wrote: »

Not 100% sure if this is the right place to put this, but the last place I want to end up is some snobby litrachoor message-board in the back arse of the internet :pac:

Has anybody studied predetermination, fate versus free-will and (minorly) the precognition paradox as an aspect of the theme as regards Macbeth? I think it would be an interesting topic to explore, but if none of the English teachers in the country have given a thought to it I doubt they would mark it highly; particularly as it focuses on more metaphysical arguments rather than literary ones.

We have some aspects of it covered, but not as a question. To be honest I don't think such a difficult question would come up, I'd be hesitant on what to write as as you said it doesn't focus on knowledge of the text itself.

thefasteriwalk

I think most English teachers have probably thought quite deeply about fate vs free will, to be honest. It permeates through all of Shakespeare's tragic plays - not just MacBeth. Historical context is incredibly important here - given the power of the religious hierarchy and prevailing religious attitudes at the time, the Jacobean audience would have found the supernatural aspects of the play genuinely thrilling and frightening. The theory of divine right was taken as gospel (and stage plays were subject to censorship). In any case, the question of theological determinism is referenced throughout the play:

MacBeth believes that 'chance may Crown me, / Without my stir.'

Lady MacBeth thinks that MacBeth is fated to be King: 'fate and metaphysical aid doth seem / To have crowned thee withal.'

By the end of the play, MacBeth says that life is 'a poor player / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage.' etc.

You could argue that his harmatia determines his doom. Equally, you could argue that, because most of the prophecies are self-fulfilling, he has free will. etc.

You could definitely incorporate this theme into a question about regicide, moral decline, the supernatural, irony etc.

A lot of philosophers and psychologists have written at length about Shakespeare's tragic heroes and about the theme of free will vs determinism and how that links into the nature/nurture debate etc. They've written a lot more about Hamlet, though.