King duncan full name macbeth
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King Duncan
Fictional character in Shakespeare's Macbeth
This article is about the character in Shakespeare's Macbeth. For other uses, see King Duncan (disambiguation).
Fictional character
King Duncan is a fictional character in Shakespeare's Macbeth. He is the father of two youthful sons (Malcolm and Donalbain), and the victim of a well-plotted regicide in a power grab by his trusted captain Macbeth. The origin of the character lies in a narrative of the historical Donnchad mac Crinain, King of Scots, in Raphael Holinshed's 1587 The Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, a history of Britain familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Unlike Holinshed's incompetent King Duncan (who is credited in the narrative with a "feeble and slothful administration"), Shakespeare's King Duncan is crafted as a sensitive, insightful, and generous father-figure whose murder grieves Scotland and is accounted the cause of turmoil in the natural world.
Analysis
King Duncan is a father-figure who is very generous and kind. Duncan is also firm ("No more that Thane of
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Duncan I of Scotland
King of Alba from 1034 to 1040
"Duncan I" redirects here. For the later Scottish nobleman, see Donnchad I, Earl of Fife.
Donnchad mac Crinain (Scottish Gaelic: Donnchadh mac Crìonain;[1]anglicised as Duncan I, and nicknamed An t-Ilgarach, "the Diseased" or "the Sick";[2]c. 1001 – 14 August 1040)[3] was king of Scotland (Alba) from 1034 to 1040. He is the historical basis of the "King Duncan" in Shakespeare's play Macbeth.
Life
The ancestry of King Duncan is not certain. In modern texts, he is the son of Crínán, hereditary lay abbot of Dunkeld, and Bethóc, daughter of King Malcolm II. However, in the late 17th century the historian Frederic Van Bossen, after collecting historical accounts throughout Europe, identified King Duncan as the first son of Abonarhl ap crinan (the grandson of Crinan) and princess Beatrice, the eldest daughter to King Malcom II, and Gunnor who was the daughter of the "2nd Duke of Normandy".[4][5]
Unlike the "King Duncan" of Shakespeare's Macbeth, the
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CHARACTER PROFILE:
DUNCAN.
Duncan is the King of Scotland.
The play begins with Duncan, his sons and his thanes engaged in a battle with rebel lords and the invading King of Norway. He trusts Macbeth and all of his loyal men, and makes Macbeth Thane of Cawdor in gratitude for his service in the battle. He is presented as a good king, not least by Macbeth, who initially seems reluctant to kill him.
With his death Scotland descends into chaos and tyranny under Macbeth.
Motto
his virtues
Will plead like angels
— Act I, scene 7
Need to know
• Father of Malcolm
• Trusts Macbeth but is killed by him
• Accepts the hospitality of Lady Macbeth but is betrayed
Key quote
There’s no art To find the mind’s construction in the face
— Act I, scene 4
Also called
Great King
— Act I, scene 2
Your Highness
— Act I, scene 4
The royal father
— Act IV, scene 3
a most sainted King
— Act IV, scene 3
Titles
King of Scotland
— Act I, scene 2
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