"Character Profile" (Post 3)

Pick one character from the first act and write a "Character Profile" of that character.  Tell us what you know about them, what you think will be their role in the play, and what you think about them as a character.  Do you like them?  Identify with them?  Do they teach us anything?

I have chosen King Duncan for my character profile. 

E.H. Sothern as Macbeth for the 1911 Broadway production

Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbeth_(1911_film)

King Duncan is first seen in Act I, Scene II:

“What bloody man is that? He can report,

As seemeth by his plight, of the revolt
The newest state.” (Act I, Scene II, lines 1-3)

King Duncan is eager to hear news of the war that Scotland is fighting against Norway and rebels from their own country. As he has not been involved in this particular battle, we assume that he is older and now unable to fight. That is why he is asking the sergeant at the beginning for news of the battle.

Duncan is impressed when he hears that Macbeth has led them to victory in the battle; he proclaims Macbeth as the Thane of Cawdor after finding out that the current Thane is a traitor and orders him to be executed. From this, we know that King Duncan may not always have a good idea of who is loyal to him and who isn’t. He may be too trusting and overlook certain things in people.

In Act I, Scene IV, Duncan names his son Malcolm as the Thane of Cumberland, which means he will take the throne when King Duncan dies. In Scene VI, Duncan and a few thanes enter Macbeth’s castle, and King Duncan is unaware that his hosts are planning to kill him that same evening. Duncan is a very trusting man and even speaks of how pleasant the castle is:

“This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself
Unto our gentle senses.” (Act I, Scene VI, lines 1-3).

He doesn't realize that what awaits him is coldblooded murder. Macbeth mentions in the last scene of the act “… this Duncan / Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been / So clear in his great office, that his virtues / Will plead like angels…” (Act I, Scene VII, lines 16-19). He is talking about how King Duncan is as a person and is a bit scared to carry through with the murder, but nonetheless has decided to kill the King.

I like King Duncan and I think he represents the 'good' in the play from the first time we see him. He seems to be a genuine, caring man who rewards a job well done, in the case of giving Macbeth the title of Thane of Cawdor, for example. He respects those who show bravery and is a brave man himself. What he has taught me in the first Act is that you can't always trust everyone around you because you never know what they're really thinking or what their true intentions are. I would hope that Duncan would be a little less trusting of everyone, seeing that the Thane of Cawdor was a traitor and now he is walking into a death trap at Macbeth's castle. Although I believe he will die in the next scene, he has set the stage for Macbeth's beginning of 'evil' in the play.