Could a superweapon that needs to be crewed by 100+ people (e.g. The Death Star) to fire be able to kill MacBeth IF:
The crew is at least 51% made up of men of woman born
BUT the person who gives the order to fire is a woman
To me, this is a perfect excuse to discuss methods.
MacDuff kills Macbeth with a sword. The sword is not a man of woman born, but it doesn’t matter. MacDuff is the one doing it. Through MacDuff’s conscious action, Macbeth is killed. The sword has no conscious action to take, no agency. It’s merely the tool.
It also backs out a bit. It doesn’t matter if someone else tells MacDuff to kill Macbeth, because, again, conscious thought. MacDuff can choose not to kill Macbeth. His sword can’t, and no manager can force him to. Would it matter if the person who forged the sword was a man of woman born? Lady Macbeth certainly had a hand in the events leading up to all this, and I doubt she counts. In the end, only the person who takes the action that directly causes his death is responsible.
Now, imagine it was a gun, not a sword. Someone else loaded that gun and handed it to him. Also not a factor. A car? As long as it’s driven by MacDuff, I don’t care what the salesman has going on at home.
I’d imagine a superweapon like this must have a “fire” button. In any case, in the preparation of this weapon, there is a final step. If your goal is specifically to kill Macbeth, the person who takes that final step must not be a man of woman born.
What if the last step requires multiple people? Then I’d say they must all qualify. Let’s say there’s two buttons that must be pressed simultaneously to fire the weapon. If either person on either button does not press their button, the weapon doesn’t fire. This makes it a choice, by both people. Both are choosing to kill Macbeth, as both could choose not to. In that sense, the decision is shared. If either one is a man of woman born, then Macbeth cannot be killed by this, as that would be illegal and also very rude.
So here’s how I’m going to put it: the circumstances outlined are not enough to guarantee his death. Though I do appreciate the crew in their work and they will all have their names on the final draft sent to publication, only the last person in the chain is considered in the prophecy.
Thank you for your submission!