"Inventing their Own Plots:" 
The Agency and Ambition of Cromwell and Macbeth

Most criticisms of Macbeth and An Horatian Ode focus on the differences between the two central figures.  Macbeth is the ‘abhorred tyrant,' the man who kills his sovereign for ‘o’erleaping’ ambition, while An Horatian Ode paints Cromwell in a less sinister light, rewarding him for his military and political victories both.  Treason pervades Macbeth from the first act (the traitorous Cawdor does not survive past the fourth scene), and while Charles I is hung as a traitor to his country, there is no whisper of treason for Cromwell who deposed him.  This paper will focus on how ambition makes Macbeth and Cromwell two men alike, and how the influence of supernatural or preternatural forces create predetermination in their actions, marking them apart.

Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires.
(I.vii.51)

The caesura before this utterance is jarring; it is almost as Macbeth is subconsciously attempting to complete the witches prophecy.  The fact that he feels compelled to action is the first hint of his ambition.  The first two prophecies came true with little action on Macbeth's part, therefore why is action required to achieve the third?  The question of whether Macbeth is truly 'evil' is beyond the scope of this paper, but is certain that the man himself is not resistant to temptation, nor his own ambitions.  The only reason for Duncan's murder is 'ambition,' and Macbeth himself foreshadows his own fall even before the murder is carried out:

I have no spur
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself
And falls on the'other
(I.vii.25)

Macbeth’s choice of metaphor indicates that he has some grasp of the follies of his desires. 'Even Macbeth sees it [ambition] as a paltry motive to murder a meek and virtuous king,’ and it is characteristic of Shakespeare's skill as a dramatist that Lady Macbeth enters at this precise moment to 'spur' on her doubtful husband.  Although Macbeth is clearly an ambitious man, it is difficult to establish a proper sequence of cause and effect in his rise to power, and therefore also difficult to establish who to blame for his misdeeds.

Hartwig, in her analysis of the patterns in Shakespeare’s verse that frame each of Macbeth’s murders, attempts to indemnify Macbeth against blame, stating that

"All causality [in the play] is seen from first to last as fabrication. Macbeth cannot even move toward Duncan's chamber without creating an imaginary dagger to lead him to his real one. This projection of his mind, this 'fatal vision', allows him to believe that destiny claims this act from him, just as Lady Macbeth has argued earlier."

Macbeth’s lack of resistance to the murderous intentions of his wife would seem to contradict this.  Evidence from earlier in the play does suggest that Macbeth himself entertains some thought of murderous advancement.  His aforementioned ‘black and deep desires’ are one example, and it is curious to note how the thought of Duncan’s murder progresses in Macbeth’s mind.  Immediately after the witches’ prophecies begin to come true, he questions their intent:

If good, why do I yield to that suggestion
Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair...
Against the use of nature?
(I.iv.137–141)

Here, Macbeth is considering the murder of Duncan, but clearly shies away from the deed.  Later, once Duncan names Malcolm as successor, Macbeth implores heaven (‘stars’) to ignore his desires, (The difference in spiritual rhetoric between Macbeth and An Horatian Ode is immediately apparent: Macbeth perpetrates evil and unnatural misdeeds, which must be hidden from Heaven. Cromwell is the ‘three–forked lightning’ of heaven, sent to depose a King who has turned away from his holy office.)  Once the deed is done, Macbeth is immediately consumed by guilt:

I'll go no more:
I am afraid to think of what I have done.
Look on’t again I dare not.
(II.ii.52–54)

In the Third Act, we see Macbeth, newly invested as King, plot against Banquo without reason.  This time, there is little reluctance in his voice as he charges the murderers with Banquo’s death. It may be that the witches prophecy is the catalyst which inspires the idea of murder, but the influence of Lady Macbeth is also a factor to be considered.  Her ambition for her husband is clear – likewise she is clearly the more sinister of the couple. She calls demons to ‘unsex’ her, removing from her the associated gentleness of her gender, so much so that, by Macbeth’s own admission, she should:

Bring forth men–children only,
For thy undaunted mettle should compose
Nothing but males.
(II.i.72–74)

Macbeth does not recognize that, although himself a man, he has none of the ‘undaunted mettle’ he sees in his wife.

Problems of blame again arise when we find that before Lady Macbeth’s plotting, the witches have foretold that Macbeth shall be ruler, and, crucially, he has sent a letter to his wife informing her thus.  Although Macbeth’s letter contains no hint of murderous intent, the death of Duncan is the first thought to enter Lady Macbeth’s mind.  This would imply that the witches are familiar with Lady Macbeth’s character, and expect her to act as predicted.  There is no linear causal link between the witches and Lady Macbeth’s plot – at no point is the hand of either of the Macbeths’ forced.  We must question how the supernatural witches are aware of the hidden desires of the Macbeths’, and how they exploit them to their own devices.