Why Does Macbeth Compare Himself to Tarquin?

Tarquin is an appropriate allusion because Tarquin strode very quietly, as a "ghost" would, to rape Lucrece. Macbeth is also gliding as silently as he can, like a ghost, towards Duncan's chambers. He says he is fearful that the "very stones" he walks over will tell others of what he is about to do.

What is Tarquin Macbeth?

Tarquin was a tyrannical king in 6th-century BCE Rome. Shakespeare is alluding to a well known account describing how Tarquin stole through the palace in the middle of the night to forcefully “ravish” the noblewoman, Lucrece, an atrocity that triggered his overthrow.

How is Macbeth similar to Tarquin?

Macbeth and Tarquin have many similarities. The silly lambs: pure thoughts are dead and still, While lust and murder wake to stain and kill.