William Shakespeare's the Tradgey of Macbeth: Prophecies

The words of the prophetic witches encouraged the actions of the ambitious Macbeth to seize a kingdom and brought him to his demise. Without the knowledge these supernatural beings provided, Macbeth would have possibley never killed anyone. Although with his character flaw being a desire for power he might have ended up killing people to get to the top anyways. Regardless, the witches played a pivotal role in Macbeth's actions.

Before any predictions were made about Macbeth, he was " ... Like valor's minion ...." (Macbeth, ActI, Scene ii, p. 308), or so he seemed, when he fought for King Duncan but after his ear consumed the witches words he thought " ... why do I yield to that suggestion (thought to murder King Duncan) ... "(Macbeth, ActI, Scene iv, p. 315). By scene ii, AcII Macbeth has already "done the deed" of killing King Duncan, " ... He[Macbeth] is already named, and gone to Scone," even before King Duncan is in the ground. He even killed his friend Banquo so his sons would not become kings.

Now, in Macbeth's time, prophecies were reverred more than they are today because there is an air of invinceability among the leaders and youth of the world. As was the case with 9/11. The U.S. government was prewarned that the World Trade Center buildings would be destoryed, did they do anything, no, and what happened, the buildings were destroyed. But not acting upon or even acting upon prophecies doesn't always end fatal. For example, when people prophecied that everyone in the world would die when the millineum hit, but we're all still alive and it's 2007.

In conclusion, whether we believe in the preminations of the future, as Macbethdid, or ignore them,as Banquo did, our actions overall determines what our future will be.