What was the fulfillment of the witches prophecy beware macduff?

Answer 1

Macduff kills Macbeth. That fulfills the prophecy.

Macbeth tries to defeat the prophecy of "Beware Macduff" by killing Macduff's family. He is initially unconcerned with the final prophecy because he views it as impossible, even though everything else the witches have said have come true. His hubris and total lust for power blind him to these "truths."

Macbeth's attitude to the prophecies is not as straightforward as the simpleminded suggestion that he is governed by hubris and a lust for power would imply. Indeed I would suggest that he is governed by neither. What he is governed by, after Duncan is killed, is fear. He does not lust for power--he does not want to invade England, for example--but he is afraid of losing the power and authority he has. He is afraid that, since he came by the throne illegitimately, nobody will respect him. He is afraid that Banquo suspects him. Why else does he say "My fears in Banquo stick deep."? He is afraid that Macduff does not respect him as king. Why else does he say, "How sayst thou that Macduff denies his person at our great bidding?"

Part of him wants to trust the prophecies, to have that faith that quenches fear. But another part of him is afraid that the prophecies will cheat him, and that he himself must take action to fulfill them or thwart them. So, rather than let "fate crown him", he embarks on the murder to hurry the process along. Rather than accept that Banquo will "get kings", he tries to prevent it by killing him and Fleance. Rather than accept that Macduff is dangerous to him, but nobody of woman born is, he'll "make assurance doubly sure" by killing Macduff.

Macbeth is not proud or arrogant. He is frightened and desperate. He clings to the prophecies in hope that they will protect him from the danger he sees all around him. And when he realizes that that hope is a sham, he is ready to give up. Only Macduff's threat to humiliate him (the Greeks would have found Macduff to be very hubristic) blows some life into the fading ember of Macbeth's self-respect. His last speech is of a man left to his last desperate recourse:

Though Birnam Wood be come to Dunsinane,

And thou opposed being of no woman born,

Yet I will try the last. Before my body

I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff,

And damned be him that first cries, "Hold, enough!"