I think that King Duncan was a very successful leader in Macbeth.As Machiavelli said, "It is not titles that honor men, but men that honor titles.", and I think this represents what his followers thought of King Duncan. It is possible for men to become king, but it doesn't matter if they're king if no one likes them or follows them. People like Macbeth, Banquo and Macduff all liked King Duncan.When Macbeth had just had a big defeat at war, King Duncan called to him and asked him to meet him at his castle. When Macbeth arrived, King Duncan expressed great gratitude towards Macbeth for his defeat. This shows that King Duncan respects his followers and doesn't sit himself higher than everyone. Macbeth replies, "The service and loyalty I owe, in doing it, pays itself. Your highness' part is to recieve our duties and out duties are to your throne aand state children and servants which do but what they should by doing everything safe toward your love an honor." (1.4. 22-27) Macbeth completely honors King Duncan, he thinks Duncan is a great king and is honored to serve him. King Duncan was also a good leader because he was trusting. Back then, many Kings didn't trust their thanes in fear that they would cross them (which Macbeth later does, but only because of his evil wife's convincing). When the Thane of Cawdor crosses Duncan and helps the Norwegian army, Duncan expresses;
"There's no art to find the mind's construction in the face. He was a gentleman on whom I built an absolute trust." (1.4. 11-14). Although it was a sad event that the Thane crossed him, Duncan expresses sadness and somewhat frustration that one of his Thanes crossed him. Macbeth is overjoyed when he is promoted to Thane of Cawdor because King Duncan trusted him (even though he probably shouldn't have). Even though things didn't work out for him in the end, I think, and characters in Macbeth think that King Duncan was a good leader.
Machiavelli would approve of Macbeth's leadership because of his actions. As written in The Prince, Machiavelli wrote that "A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise." and Macbeth shows this when he decides to kill King Duncan. Although at first he respected and honored Duncan, when he learned that his fate would dub him king, he followed his wife's evil plan to kill Duncan so he could be king. He promised King Duncan when he was promoted to Thane of Cawdor that he would execute the position better than the former Thane did. Obviously he broke that promise because he later kills him (which is a lot worse then crossing a king and going to another army) and so, as defined by Machiavelli, Macbeth was a good leader for breaking his promise and killing his king. Also another quote from The Prince is "The ends justify the means." relates to Macbeth. In the play, Macbeth kills King Duncan (to be king), Banquo (to keep his position as king) and Macduff's family (for revenge). The weird sisters told him that his fate was to be king and so he took his fate into his hands and decides to kill the king. He didn't have to do this-unless it was his fate to hear his fate and think that the only way he was to be king was to murder the king- but he did. But the later executions were not needed, but Macbeth thought they were. Killing Banquo gave hims security that no one would know that he really killed the king, but killing Macduff's family for revenge wasn't needed. In the end, the ends justified the means for Macbeth: Macduff comes back and kills Macbeth. Macduff's revenge to Macbeth was a perfect example of "The ends justify the means." Machiavellian themes can be found a lot in Macbeth.
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