victim of fate or free will?

yesterday, our class in literature had to do an oral defense on an shakespearean classic, Macbeth. I'm not really one for tragedies, but this one was totally fascinating. I rememebered what my philosophy teacher told us, about the katharsis in watching tragedies,[ may it be in the movies, books or in the soap operas] it makes us better than ourselves as opposed to comedies that make us lesser than ourselves, im not sure but i think it was aristotle she quoted by that. i have always thought of tragedies as miserable and gruesome but now, in this example i can clearly discern what aristotle meant by that. there are no proclaimed protagonist and antogonist here yet there is still the conflict, it explores human nature, feeding on our weakness and if we indulge ourselves a bit too much, it swallows us whole just like in real life. there are really no antagonists in real life, we are all basically good until we lose that goodness in indulging in a weakness that ultimately destroys the good that is inate in all of us. it can be a varied weakness, for Macbeth's case it was greed. Well, I did fairly good in that exam but thats not the topic i want in delve into in this entry.

at some point after the exam, our professor asked us if Macbeth was a victim of fate and of free will. i though about it, listened to my classmate's opinions and finally came to my own conclusion that Macbeth was a victim of his own free will. Considering that the three witches did in fact, tell him what was to become of him wasnt enough proof to blame fate for what has become of him. for some people, fate is what you are to do, where you are to be, what you are to become. im still on the fence if destiny is really true or its just something people call the things that happen to them that they cant find anyone else to blame but themselves hence they call it destiny. Most of the time, i tend to lean towards the latter. I think that fate or destiny, is a state of potentiality, where this or that could happen but it still all rests upon you if you are to act towards that potentiality for it to become actuality. For Macbeth, the witches told him his destiny, they way he acted toward that professy was to his own preference, even if his wife told him to kill Duncan it was still and ultimately his decision to actually commit murder and his evil actions thereafter. It was his decision to kill MacDuff's family and Banquo for that ambition of his that consequently led to greed and it was his greed that became his downfall so it was his will that he was a victim of, not fate. What he got was only the consequence of his actions, fate had nothing to do with it.
the end doesnt justify the means.