Macbeth REVISED

Shakespeare's tragedy of Macbeth is, in some ways, the story of a disaster that everyone can see coming. After all, it opens with characters -- the Three Witches -- who can see the future. When Macbeth encounters them, the witches offer what Shakespeare terms "strange intelligence" or "prophetic greeting" -- predicting that he will attain the titles of Thane of Cawdor, Thane of Glamis, and King of Scotland (I.iii). The question the play poses, then, is what Macbeth can or cannot do to manipulate the existing circumstances to fulfill his own ambition and the witches' prophecy. The witches predict Macbeth will be the king -- they do not predict that he will murder Duncan to make it happen. Shakespeare does not use the term "manipulate" for Macbeth's way of becoming king, but instead couches it in terms of daring -- as Macbeth will tell his wife, when he...
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