In Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, there are a numerous amount of pessimistic characters. In the play there are evil and supernatural characters such as the three witches, there are manipulators like Lady Macbeth, and there are even murderers in the play such as Macbeth. One character who represents more positive traits than negative is King Duncan. King Duncan, too has flaws as the other characters do, but throughout most of his time in the play, King Duncan has a positive reputation and possesses admirable traits. Three character traits, positive and negative, that King Duncan reveals, are benevolence, weakness, and compassion. Another thing that King Duncan relates to, is the play's theme of the disruption of reality or nature.
King Duncan is a very benevolent character in the play: "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 goodwill" (1.4, 2). This quote shows King Duncan acting very kindly and with a lot of hospitality toward not only Banquo, but Macbeth as well. Duncan is welcoming Macbeth with open arms into nobility as well as telling Banquo that he is invaluable. Another example in the play of how kind Duncan is, is when Lady Macbeth calls upon her evil spirits to fill her with cruelty in order to follow through with Duncan's murder. King Duncan is such a kind and loving person, that Lady Macbeth needs to go out of her way and ask her evil spirits to help kill him. Such is his goodness that she would require the fullest of her evil to bring him down. Lastly, even though Lady Macbeth said that she would have "dashed the brains out" (1.7,2) of her own baby, she has a lot of hesitance when planning to murder King Duncan "Had he not resembled/My father as he slept, I had done 't.
