ANGUS We are sent
To give thee from our royal master thanks,
Only to herald thee into his sight,
Not pay thee.
ROSS And for an earnest of a greater honour,
He bade me, from him, call thee Thane of Cawdor;
In which addition, hail, most worthy thane!
For it is thine.
BANQUO What, can the devil speak true?
MACBETH The Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me
In borrowed robes? (1.3.95-104)
Angus and Ross are a kind of double-act here: Ross has done the set-up, and now Angus takes over; almost a sense that they’ve rehearsed it on the way, agreed who’s saying what. They’ve been sent to Macbeth to pass on thanks from their royal master—but that’s not all! They are commanded to bring him to the King, to herald him into his sight, but not to reward him yet; that’s still to come. First he needs to be brought to the King’s presence. But—to give a sense of what’s about to happen, a taster, as it were—Ross has been authorised, indeed instructed, to greet Macbeth as Thane of Cawdor, as an earnest, a promise of a greater honour. (With his former title greet Macbeth—we heard that instruction being given.) So Ross, perhaps with elaborate courtesy, even making a little joke of it, does exactly that: in which addition (that is, with that title, of Thane of Cawdor): hail, most worthy thane! A good echo of the witches there. HAIL. (Lots of hails, a hailstorm of hails; a loaded word.) That title is thine. A prophecy’s fulfilled, by cheerful, courteous Ross, who has no idea of the reaction he’s getting, or why. Banquo can’t believe it: can the devil speak true? He was certain, then, that the witches were devils, emissaries of hell. Macbeth is more considered: so far as he’s concerned, the Thane of Cawdor lives. Why do you dress me in borrowed robes, he asks Ross, sceptically and suspiciously. Why are you calling me by a title that is not only not my own, but that I know full well belongs to someone else? It doesn’t fit. It’s awkward, uncomfortable, ill-at-ease. Wary. (The ill-fitting garments are going to return…)
