I never thought Macbeth and I would have anything in common!

This past week we read Macbeth by William Shakespeare, in my humanities class, we had to read the play in its entirety, we had to memorize lines, and watch a film.  After memorizing and reading the play I realized that I barley knew what was going on until I watched the movie. After reading the play and watching the film I realized that I should not let what people tell me get to my conscience. If I do it will cause me to underestimate my own free will.

            In the beginning of the play Macbeth encounters three witches who tell him that he will be king, and that people will “all hail Macbeth”. As we talked about this in class, one of the discussions was “Do you think he would have killed Duncan, and Macduff if the witches had not said anything?” and I have to say, no, because I know that I often put too much emphasis on what people say to me or even about me. This entire play was a huge eye opener for me. I know that I need to be more aware of what advice I hear, or even what others say about me.  I do not want to be a Macbeth! For example, it was not until after the witches said that he was going to become powerful and kill the king, did he decide to kill the king. The witches put the thought in his head. I realized that I do the same thing in my life. If someone tells me something I tend to run with the thought instead of deciding if the thought is right for me. I need to weigh the pros and cons of my life instead of letting others weigh them for me. The play is a tragedy because it ended so terribly because he did not have a conscience. In the play he lost all sense of direction or right and wrong. I do not want to become an advocate of tragedy in my own life. I want to control my own thoughts and not let what others tell me influence me to the point of “death” in any way you view the word. Now, I am not saying that I will not take advice from others, of course I will, but I need to put into consideration that I need to know who I am first. I need to discover my talents and abilities in order to think for myself and make the right decisions and then from there I can be free and think clearly. I also want to always have an open mind free from guilt and clutter. Macbeth after committing his murders had such a hard time thinking clearly. All he thought about was who to kill next, who might be the one to leak out his secret. I never want to be so tangled up in lies and deceit that I loose control of my nature as a daughter of God. That would be a horrible trait to loose.