King Duncan is a relatively minor character in the play Macbeth written by William Shakespeare. He was the king of Scotland, the father of Malcolm and Donalbain, and the victim of his close friend Macbeth. He was known to be too kind, credulous and weak which lead to his early death in the play.
King Duncan is a benevolent character: “You are welcome here. By making you thane of Cawdor, I have planted the seeds of a great career for you, and I will make sure they grow. (to BANQUO) Noble Banquo, you deserve no less than Macbeth, and everyone should know it. Let me bring you close to me and give you the benefit of my love and good will” (I,4,29-34). This quote shows him acting kind toward not only Banquo, but Macbeth as well. He is welcoming Macbeth into honor and telling Banquo that he is crucial. He is so good natured that Lady Macbeth went out her way to ask her evil spirits to help kill him. “Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here” (I,5,31). She wanted the spirits to give her murderous thoughts so Duncan’s kindness wouldn’t give her the urge to stop Macbeth from killing him.
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He needed other men to fight his battles and he couldn’t tell when those men would betray him. In “Suffocating Mothers,” Janet stated “he is nonetheless killed for his womanish softness, his childish trust, his inability to read men’s minds in their faces, his reliance on the fighting of sons who can rebel against him” (Adelman). What Janet Adelman meant by this was he was too weak and it proved he wasn’t worthy enough to be king. As a king you should have a little more backbone but he was so soft and gentle of nature that he wasn’t fit to have the title of being