Hate, Hate, So Full of Hate, Our Friend Macbeth will Meet with Fate.
The Three Sisters in the Tragedy of Macbeth bring upon the use of prophecy, circumstantially bringing with it, the use of fate. First appearing in Act I, Scene 1, and later in Act I, Scene 3, they help develop the play into an instrument for the idea of fate for the reader. Fate is seen as "a divine decree or a fixed sentence by which the order of things is prescribed; that which is inevitably predetermined" (American College, 439). As the Sisters foretell the oncoming futures of both Macbeth and Banquo in Scene 3 of Act I, one reading the play may sense an unavoidable course of events, or fate, for each of the characters. .
Macbeth, the headstrong and power-thirsty protagonist, learns from the strange Sisters that he will be King of Scotland. As one may notice, Macbeth ensured his own prophecy by killing the previous king, Duncan. This may have been the beginning of the end for Macbeth. If one solely believes in the ideals of fate, they may see that this may have been Macbeth's only choice, and perhaps the choice was never his: he may have been acting upon what was already planned, therefore the situation was out of his control.
Upon reaching that conclusion, Macbeth's attempt to disregard the prophecy of Banquo and have him killed may also be seen as pre-destined. Though the process of each of the Sister's prophecies isn't clear, the ending results are a definite guarantee of their words. Macbeth acted upon his own desires, which were already determined before he committed any deed.
In Act IV, Scene 1, the Sisters are enraged by Macbeth's attempt to avoid fate. In return, they conjure another prophecy that Macbeth receives later in the scene. As he learns of the dangers of Dunsinane meeting Birnam Wood and is warned of Macduff, he is oblivious to the fact that he will die by the very man. A pawn of the game of fate, Macbeth is played and soon gone in a pre-destined doom arranged for him.