The Character of Tarquin in Macbeth and Cymbeline The image of Tarquin as a man of dastardly deeds becomes a part of Shakespeare's Macbeth and Cymbeline. As Iachimo emerges from a box in Imogen's room, he speaks, and his words reflect not only his feeling but that of all the intruders in Shakespeare's plays. Iachimo compares his actions to those of Tarquin, a Roman tyrant who rapes the matron Lucretia. His intrusion into Imogen's bedroom while she is sleeping is like rape to Iachimo. He violates her space and privacy. Similarly, in the play Macbeth, Macbeth, before killing Duncan, invokes the image of Tarquin: “With Tarquin's ravishing steps his purpose moves like a ghost. You, on earth, do not hear my footsteps” (2.1.55-58). The use of the image of Tarquin in both plays reveals fascinating subtleties about Shakespeare's approach to the traditional; images of rapists and murders and reuses them to connect them to the actions of the characters in the play....