Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Act 1 - Scene 4
Forres. The palace.
Duncan : Is execution done on Cawdor? Are not
[p]Those in commission yet
return'd?
Malcolm : My liege,
[p]They are not yet come back. But I have spoke
[p]With one
that saw him die: who did report
[p]That very frankly he confess'd his
treasons,
[p]Implored your highness' pardon and set forth
[p]A deep
repentance: nothing in his life
[p]Became him like the leaving it; he
died
[p]As one that had been studied in his death
[p]To throw away the
dearest thing he owed,
[p]As 'twere a careless trifle.
Duncan : There's no art
[p]To find the mind's construction in the face:
[p]He
was a gentleman on whom I built
[p]An absolute trust.
[p][Enter
MACBETH, BANQUO, ROSS, and ANGUS]
[p]O worthiest cousin!
[p]The sin of
my ingratitude even now
[p]Was heavy on me: thou art so far
before
[p]That swiftest wing of recompense is slow
[p]To overtake
thee. Would thou hadst less deserved,
[p]That the proportion both of
thanks and payment
[p]Might have been mine! only I have left to
say,
[p]More is thy due than more than all can pay.
Macbeth : The service and the loyalty I owe,
[p]In doing it, pays itself. Your
highness' part
[p]Is to receive our duties; and our duties
[p]Are to
your throne and state children and servants,
[p]Which do but what they
should, by doing every thing
[p]Safe toward your love and honour.
Duncan : Welcome hither:
[p]I have begun to plant thee, and will labour
[p]To
make thee full of growing. Noble Banquo,
[p]That hast no less
deserved, nor must be known
[p]No less to have done so, let me enfold
thee
[p]And hold thee to my heart.
Banquo : There if I grow,
[p]The harvest is your own.
Duncan : My plenteous joys,
[p]Wanton in fulness, seek to hide themselves
[p]In
drops of sorrow. Sons, kinsmen, thanes,
[p]And you whose places are
the nearest, know
[p]We will establish our estate upon
[p]Our eldest,
Malcolm, whom we name hereafter
[p]The Prince of Cumberland; which
honour must
[p]Not unaccompanied invest him only,
[p]But signs of
nobleness, like stars, shall shine
[p]On all deservers. From hence to
Inverness,
[p]And bind us further to you.
Macbeth : The rest is labour, which is not used for you:
[p]I'll be myself the
harbinger and make joyful
[p]The hearing of my wife with your
approach;
[p]So humbly take my leave.
Duncan : My worthy Cawdor!
Macbeth : [Aside] The Prince of Cumberland! that is a step
[p]On which I must
fall down, or else o'erleap,
[p]For in my way it lies. Stars, hide
your fires;
[p]Let not light see my black and deep desires:
[p]The eye
wink at the hand; yet let that be,
[p]Which the eye fears, when it is
done, to see.
Duncan : True, worthy Banquo; he is full so valiant,
[p]And in his
commendations I am fed;
[p]It is a banquet to me. Let's after
him,
[p]Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome:
[p]It is a
peerless kinsman.
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Next: Act 1 - Scene 5
