In the play The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the character Macbeth acts according to free will and not against fate. The definition of free will is the ability to make a choice; including having options, logical reasoning for choosing each option, as well as understanding the consequences of each decision. Macbeth meets all the criteria, using "destiny" as an excuse to act like a murdering madman, which will ultimately lead to his demise. Macbeth's possession of options allows him to fall into the category of free will. Macbeth has options in choosing to listen to someone or not. The witches, as well as Lady Macbeth, both influence Macbeth, making his thoughts evil. However, Macbeth is a strong and tough man. By questioning Macbeth's manhood, she gets Macbeth's attention and so he is more likely to listen to her. But, ultimately, the decision for Macbeth to listen to his wife was his. Another instance where Macbeth has options available is the choice of whether or not to kill someone. With every person Macbeth kills (Duncan, Banquo, the Macduff family), the possibility of not killing them is always there. It could be said that he had no choice in killing Duncan and only did it because of Lady Macbeth. However, he was not obligated to listen to his wife (again, he chose to listen), because he has the final say on whether to kill Duncan. kill someone or not. Therefore, in many situations, Macbeth was presented with a variety of options, meeting the criteria of free will. Macbeth, being a logical man, has conscious knowledge and thinks about the pros and cons before making a decision on anything. When he made the decision to kill Duncan, Macbeth weighed his options heavily. He states that he does not want to kill Duncan because "we only teach/bloody instructions which, once taught, come back/to torment the inventor.” (1.7.7-10).