Duncan

Duncan is the good king under whom apparently a kingdom flourishes. In his soliloquy in Act I, Scene vii, Macbeth attests to Duncan's virtue and to Duncan's restrained usage of his kingly powers. When Duncan arrives at Macbeth's castle, Inverness, in the brief respite between the outrages perpetrated by Macdonwald and Macbeth, the descriptions of the atmosphere about Inverness given by Duncan and Banquo suggest the healthy, peaceful condition of the land during the rule by such a man as Duncan. That Duncan is aware of "no art / To find the mind's construction in the face" is not a criticism of Duncan. There is, in fact, no art which will do so. Only time will reveal the "mind's construction." The only early antagonist of Macbeth is Macduff, and he may have been suspicious of Macbeth only because he happened to ask Macbeth why the latter had killed Duncan's grooms and therefore may have been keenly watching Macbeth flounder in the reply. Antagonism to Macbeth grows as time reveals the destructive nature of his mind. That there is "no art/ To find the mind's construction in the face" and that only time can show that construction is part of the tragedy of this play. Duncan, therefore, is the good king at one end of the play just as Malcolm is the good king at the other end of the play; the first has had his reign interrupted, and the second may have his reign interrupted, because in the nature of things some men succumb totally to the temptations of the devil.

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