Duncan

Who He Is

King of Scotland, father of Malcolm and Donalbain, generous to those who serve him and trusting to the point of being deceived by the very men he honored. He honors Macbeth for the victory over the rebels, promises to tend his growth as one tends a plant, names his eldest son heir, and chooses to spend the night in the castle of the man who will kill him. He is the king whose virtues the murderer himself admits before the crime, and whose death, offstage, breaks the order of the realm and of nature.

Trajectory

In Scene 2 of Act I, in the camp near Forres, he hears from a wounded Captain that Macbeth killed the rebel Macdonwald and that he and Banquo resisted the new attack by the Norwegians. He learns that the Thane of Cawdor betrayed the realm, condemns him to death, and gives the title to Macbeth.

In Scene 4 of Act I, he learns that Cawdor died repentant, and he says that there is no art by which a man's character can be guessed from his face: Cawdor had been a gentleman in whom he placed absolute trust. At that moment Macbeth enters, and he thanks him with promises, telling him that he has begun to plant and will see him grow. He names Malcolm Prince of Cumberland and announces that he will go to Inverness.

In Scene 6 of Act I, before the castle, he praises the place, and lets himself be led in by Lady Macbeth, who receives him with words of humility and service.

In Scene 7 of Act I, Macbeth himself lists what protects the king: Duncan is his king, his kinsman, and his guest, and has always worn the royal mantle with such humility that his virtues would defend him like angels against the crime. In Scene 1 of Act II, he has already retired, happy, and has sent a jewel to the hostess. In Scene 2 of Act II, he is killed offstage, with the chamberlains' daggers, and in Scene 3 of Act II the body is discovered by Macduff.

In Scene 4 of Act II, Ross and an Old Man discuss the night, which is unnatural: the day that looks like night, the falcon killed by an owl, Duncan's horses that went mad and devoured each other. In Scene 2 of Act III, Macbeth, now king, says that Duncan is in his grave and that, after the convulsive fever of life, he sleeps well.

Themes Embodied

Duncan misjudges twice in a row, and in the same act. In Scene 4 of Act I, he says that character cannot be read in the face, speaking of the traitor Cawdor, and right after thanks Macbeth, who has just heard the witches, and embraces Banquo. The guest who enters the castle in Scene 6 of Act I, praising the sweet air, is the same man who will be killed inside it.

The realm responds to his death. In Scene 3 of Act II, Lennox speaks of gales, cries in the air, and feverish earth, and in Scene 4 of Act II Ross and the Old Man tell of the dark day and the horses that devoured each other.

The order of the king, that of men, and that of animals are linked, and breaking the first breaks the others.

Duncan's Power rests on trust, and that is its limit: he hands out titles, promises, and thanks, and lets himself be led by the hostess. Nature answers the Violence that kills him with the omens of the night of the crime, told in Scene 4 of Act II.

Duncan's virtues work in the play as the brake that Macbeth recognizes and yet overturns. In Scene 7 of Act I, he himself imagines the king's virtues as angels with trumpets against the crime, and only an unspurred Ambition pushes him on. Being a good king was not enough to protect him.

Relationships

• Macbeth: the captain he honors and in whose castle he stays, and who kills him in his sleep in Scene 2 of Act II.
• Lady Macbeth: the hostess who receives him in Scene 6 of Act I, and to whom, as he sleeps, he reminds her of her father in Scene 2 of Act II.
• Malcolm: the son he names Prince of Cumberland in Scene 4 of Act I, which kindles in Macbeth the idea of the obstacle.
• Banquo: the captain whom he embraces beside Macbeth in Scene 4 of Act I.
• Macduff: the baron who discovers the body in Scene 3 of Act II.