Prophecies macbeth play macbeth the choice evident coming

Text	The questions around the extent to which Macbeth has choice in the play are certainly evident in the witches’ prophecies themselves. Having just learned of the first two prophecies coming true, Macbeth metaphorically depicts these two greetings as ‘happy prologues to the swelling act’ in Act 1.3. The conceit of the first two prophecies as ‘prologues’ implies the inevitability of the third ‘act’ coming true—that is, the inevitability of Macbeth becoming king—because it sets this up as if it has somehow been prewritten, as if his life were a play already planned out for him. Macbeth’s lack of choice is also perhaps evident even in the modal verbs of the prophecies themselves. Just as the initial prophecy states that he ‘shalt be King hereafter’, the second apparition in 4.1 tells him that ‘none of women born / Shall harm Macbeth’ (4.1.80-1 )and the third apparition then tells that “Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until / Great Birnan wood to high Dunsinane hill / Shall come against him.” (4.1.91-3). The modality of these prophecies, far from presenting impossibilities (as Macbeth responds “That will never be” (4.1.94)), actually places Macbeth within a frame of history that has simultaneously happened and will happen. Each prophecy is a simple statement of truth. The dumb-show that follows then fills in the time between the play’s setting and the time in which the play was first performed: the last of the eight Kings carrying “twofold balls and treble sceptres” (4.1.121), which would perhaps indicate the two sceptres of James I’s English coronation and the one of his Scottish coronation. These ‘prophecies’ are thus not prophecies at all, but histories for the Jacobean audiences and Macbeth is caught inexorably in this history, unable to escape his fate.

Text

The questions around the extent to which Macbeth has choice in the play are certainly evident in the witches’ prophecies themselves.

Having just learned of the first two prophecies coming true, Macbeth metaphorically depicts these two greetings as ‘happy prologues to the swelling act’ in Act 1.3. The conceit of the first two prophecies as ‘prologues’ implies the inevitability of the third ‘act’ coming true—that is, the inevitability of Macbeth becoming king—because it sets this up as if it has somehow been prewritten, as if his life were a play already planned out for him.

Macbeth’s lack of choice is also perhaps evident even in the modal verbs of the prophecies themselves. Just as the initial prophecy states that he ‘shalt be King hereafter’, the second apparition in 4.1 tells him that ‘none of women born / Shall harm Macbeth’ (4.1.80-1 )and the third apparition then tells that “Macbeth shall never vanquish’d be until / Great Birnan wood to high Dunsinane hill / Shall come against him.” (4.1.91-3).

The modality of these prophecies, far from presenting impossibilities (as Macbeth responds “That will never be” (4.1.94)), actually places Macbeth within a frame of history that has simultaneously happened and will happen. Each prophecy is a simple statement of truth.

The dumb-show that follows then fills in the time between the play’s setting and the time in which the play was first performed: the last of the eight Kings carrying “twofold balls and treble sceptres” (4.1.121), which would perhaps indicate the two sceptres of James I’s English coronation and the one of his Scottish coronation. These ‘prophecies’ are thus not prophecies at all, but histories for the Jacobean audiences and Macbeth is caught inexorably in this history, unable to escape his fate.

Learn with these flashcards. Click next, previous, or up to navigate to more flashcards for this subject.