King Duncan

In my opinion, Shakespeare portrays King Duncan as an honorable, good hearted man who always tried to do what was best for his country. "Macduff: 'Tis not for you to hear what I speak. The repetition in a woman's ear would murder as it fell.' Enter Banquo. 'O Banquo, Banquo, Our royal master's murdered!' Lady Macbeth: 'Woe, alas-what, in our house?' Banquo: 'Too cruel anywhere. Dear Duff, I prithee contradict thyself, and say it is not so.'" (2.3.79-86). This clearly shows that when other people in the play found out about Kind Duncan's death, they were very sad, and alarmed that anybody could do that. This shows that King Duncan was obviously a very good king, and was kind to his people. Another quote said by Ross, "From Fife, great King, where the Norwegian banners flout the sky and fan our people cold. Norway himself, with terrible numbers, assisted by that most disloyal traitor the Thane of Cawdor, began a dismal conflict, till that Bellona's bridegroom, lapped in proof, point against point, rebellious arm 'gainst arm, curbing his lavish spirit; and to conclude, the victory fell on us -" (1.2.48-58). This quote is talking about how King Duncan put the Thane of Cawdor (before Macbeth was the Thane of Cawdor) to death because he was disloyal and betrayed them. This shows that King Duncan knew what to do when something bad happened, and he was able to punish those who had done something wrong, which is a trait that you should want in a leader.

I think that Machiavelli would have tough that King Duncan was a good leader, but he could have done things to improve as well. For example in the quote in the first paragraph, "Macduff: 'Tis not for you to hear what I speak. The repetition in a woman's ear would murder as it fell.' Enter Banquo. 'O Banquo, Banquo, Our royal master's murdered!' Lady Macbeth: 'Woe, alas-what, in our house?' Banquo: 'Too cruel anywhere. Dear Duff, I prithee contradict thyself, and say it is not so'" (2.3.79-86). Machiavelli would have liked that his followers were very distraught when they heard that he was dead (besides of course Macbeth and his wife). Machiavelli would have approved that he had so many willing followers, and didn't really have to force any of them. I think that Machiavelli was a big believer on seeming like you were perfect, but not necessarily being perfect. In other words saying you were something that you weren't. In this aspect of being a good leader, I don't think King Duncan pulled off, because he was very big into trust, as shown in this quote. "There's not art to find the mind's construction in the face. He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust" (1.4.12-15). This shows that because he really believed in trust, he would really want to lie to his people when he was excepting them to be honest to him. Overall though, I think Machiavelli would have agreed with King Duncan in most of his beliefs but might have given some advice on how to become more powerful.