ROSS Then ’tis most like
The sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth.
MACDUFF He is already named, and gone to Scone
To be invested.
ROSS Where is Duncan’s body?
MACDUFF Carried to Colmcille,
The sacred storehouse of his predecessors
And guardian of their bones.
ROSS Will you to Scone?
MACDUF No, cousin; I’ll to Fife.
ROSS Well, I will thither.
MACDUFF Well may you see things well done there—adieu—
Lest our old robes sit easier than our new.
ROSS Farewell, father.
OLD MAN God’s benison go with you, and with those
That would make good of bad, and friends of foes.
Exeunt omnes [in different directions] (2.4.29-42)
Ross is carefully neutral, or at least seems to be: then ’tis most like the sovereignty will fall upon Macbeth, seeing as the princes have fled. Most like is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, as is fall upon. And Macduff confirms, not just the facts, but also, probably, Ross’s interpretation of them: yes, Macbeth is already named as the next king, and gone to Scone to be invested. But neither Ross nor Macduff is going to voice their suspicions overtly yet. (Scone is the ancient seat of the Scottish kings; it’s pronounced scoon, helpfully unlike either of the two contested pronunciations of the baked goods.) Invest literally means to clothe, to put on garments, although it has a wider range too, but that literal sense remains important in the play; it’s picked up by Macduff a few lines later. Duncan’s body has been buried and he’s receded into history: he’s been incorporated into the sacred storehouse of his predecessors, his ancestors, recalling the way in which his body was described as a temple, a sacred vessel, violated in his murder. He’s sleeping safe now, on Iona. (MAGICAL place.)
Perhaps there’s a pause, before Ross asks what is perhaps the scene’s most crucial question, again studiedly neutral, casual. Will you to Scone? Are you going to the coronation? And Macduff is emphatic; he knows exactly what’s being asked, he’s being asked where his loyalties lie, whether he’s aligning himself with this new regime, with Macbeth. The answer is no, but not quite in so many words; he’s as careful as Ross. No, cousin, I’ll to Fife, his own territory, his castle, his family. Well, I will thither. Ross is—curious? biding his time? not wanting, yet, to be out of the loop? aware that he’s not as big a player as Macduff, or Banquo, and therefore able to see how things go, before he (potentially) splits with Macbeth? Or is he just unaware, or unconcerned? Macduff’s final words are a warning, but he’s not, yet, going to state definitively that he thinks this can only turn out badly. Well may you see things well done there—adieu—lest our old robes sit easier than our new. Ostensibly, he’s saying, well, I hope it all goes well there, the coronation and all, but he’s being pretty ironic; things have not been done well thus far, they have been done very ill indeed. (Well is, perhaps, a bit like fair in this play; it suggests its opposite.) And Macduff is fearful about the new regime, with this resonant metaphor of the ill-fitting garment, one that will return in the play. It takes a sense of unease into the body, the robe that doesn’t fit: does it constrict, irritate, smother? Ross’s care to farewell the Old Man is a good note for his character: will his courtesy be his downfall, his desire to get on with people, to be liked? Certainly the Old Man’s prescient farewell in response, his praying for God’s benison, suggests that he’s read his character well, as he asks particular blessing on those who would make good of bad, and friends of foes. Is he being ironic, recognizing that Ross is a fool, or at least foolish in his optimism, his desire to see good in people and to hope for the best? Is he, more cynically, condemning Ross’s willingness to wait and see, his reluctance to stand up for what’s right? In this little scene, and through this encounter with the Old Man, never seen again, both Ross and Macduff become much more complicated characters, and Macduff starts to emerge as the opposition.
And that’s the end of the second act.
