King Duncan

King Duncan plays a large role indirectly in the play Macbeth. He dies very early on in the play and therefore we don’t learn a lot about him. The only way we learn about him is through the thoughts of Macbeth. Before Macbeth kills King Duncan in Act 2 he looks at the good and bad qualities King Duncan has. We know that King Duncan had to of had some good qualities because of the amount of time Macbeth spent considering possibly murdering him. At the end of Act 1 Macbeth assesses the pros and cons of killing King Duncan. He is shortly after brought back to reality by his wife Lady Macbeth. "So clear in his great office, that his virtues will plead like angels" (1.7.18-19). Here Macbeth is saying that King Duncan is a perfect person and hasn't done anything that people assess as bad. Macbeths only reason for killing King Duncan is a selfish reason. He does this horrid dead so that he can become king for a short lived time as he know it will not be passed onto his children. Macbeth also thinks that killing him is a disloyal act. This shows that Macbeth has a reason to be loyal and respect King Duncan. "First, as i am his kinsman and his subject, strong both against the deed; then, as his host" (1.7.13-14). Macbeth doesn't want to kill King Duncan because as his kinsman Macbeth wishes to be loyal. If Macbeth has such significant reason for not killing the king then King Duncan is clearly a good leader. In the end Macbeth is convinced by his wife Lady Macbeth to kill the king. His reason for killing King Duncan is horrifically selfish and does not reflect what he truly thins of the king as a leader. Macbeth believes that King Duncan is a good leader and wants to be loyal to him.

I think that Machiavelli would evaluate Macbeth as a great leader. One of Machiavellis famous quotes states that " the end justifys the means". Macbeth demonstrates this when he decides to kill the king. He know that killing the king is a horrible disloyal act that he shouldn't commit but does it anyways. Lady Macbeth tells him that he wants the end means but isnt willing to work for it. She emphasizes the fact that what he will recieve in the end will be worth all that he does. Machiavelli and him both believe that is the end resault is beneficial to the leader himself then commiting the act or acts that lead up to it are justified by his gain Machiavelli also believes that a leaders appearence is more important than the reality of what he does. When Macbeth considers killing the king he becomes worried about what could happen to his appearence. "Golden opinions from all sorts of people, which would be worn now in their newest gloss, not cast aside so soon" (1.7.13-15). In this quote Macneth directly states that people think highly of him as a leader and that he dioesn't want to ruin that view. If he kills the king and gets caught his whole reputation is ruined. If you read this scene closely you see that he only worries about what will happen to him when he gets caught rather then what will happen if he doesn't. He believes just like Machiavelli that how he appears to the people around him has higher importance then what he actually is. Later in the scence when Lady Macbeth convinces Mabeth that he has no chance of getting caught he is okay will following through witht the murder. Macbeth shows that his appearence to otherrs is more important then reality in this scene.