Destiny

The Fates are three goddesses in Greek mythology. According to the legends, our lives are predestined and cannot be altered by our efforts. The three weird sisters in Macbeth predicted Macbeth's rise to the throne and the first steps of succession happened immediately without any effort on his part. Do you suppose he would have been king anyway and could have avoided the bloodshed and resulting guilt?

Regardless of the portents of the witches and the influence of an ambitious wife, Macbeth knew he would be primarily responsible for his own downfall:
In Act I, scene vii, he says:

"We still have judgment here, that we but teach
Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventor.This even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice
To our own lips."

Quotes

Here are a few of Shakespeare's profound quotes from MacBeth:

And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest trifles, to betray's
In deepest consequence.
--Banquo, Act I, scene iii


To show an unfelt sorrow is an office
Which the false man does easy.
--Malcolm, Act II, scene ii


Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
--Macbeth, Act V, scene v

The Three Witches

The three witches. Today, the existence of these witches may be approached with some skepticism. Other blogs and wikis on Macbeth have totally refuted the supernatural elements of the Scottish play. However, in the time of Macbeth, people tended to be more superstitious.
Sir Walter Scott does give an account of three old women in his Tales of a Grandfather who greeted Macbeth, “All hail, Macbeth-hail to thee, Thane of Glamis. All hail, Macbeth-hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor. All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be King of Scotland.” Sound familiar? (If it helps any, Thane is a position now called Earl). However, in his Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, Scott does give a more historically accurate view of the three sisters: "In the tale of Macbeth...the weird-sisters, who were the original prophetesses, appeared to the usurper in a dream, and are described as volae, or sibyls, rather than as witches, though Shakespeare has stamped the latter character indelibly upon them."
Holinshed is given credit as being the source for Shakespeare’s historical research and Holinshed does not refer to the three ladies as witches but rather as "The Weyard Sisters" ("Wyrd" being the Anglo-Saxon word for "Destiny" or "Fate") Macbeth’s inheritance of the titles of Thane are instantaneous through no effort of his own. His accession to the crown was as described by Shakespeare in the play.
Wyntoun’s Cronykil has this historical account: “His wife, impatient of long delay…gave him great exhortation to pursue the prophecy that she might be a queen, often calling him a feeble coward and not desirous of honour, since he dare not attempt with manhood and courage that which is offered to him by the benevolence of fortune, although various others exposed themselves to the most terrible jeopardy knowing no certainty to succeed thereafter…Macbeth, at the instigation of his wife…went to Inverness, where he slew king Duncan.” Wyntoun also renders Macbeth more justice than other writers, [char]it in his tyme thar wes plente Off gold and siluer, catall and fee. He wes in iustice rycht lauchfull, And till his liegis rycht awfull.

The Scottish Play

"...all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more."
-Macbeth Act V, scene v
Okay, that is a depressing way to start this off, but this is the book wraith after all.
Before we get to the actual play itself, I thought it might be interesting to have a brief discussion as to the theatrical superstitions as to why it is considered bad luck to mention this play by name in a theatre. Any thespians out there?