"And wither'd Murder, / Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf, / Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace, / With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design / Moves like a ghost"
Macbeth continues by evoking the image of 'wither'd murder', employing personification to transform the general concept of murder into a spectral presence stalking the land for its victims. Alarum'd denotes guarded, as Sentinel means "one who keeps watch or stands guard." The subject is Murder, who has a wolf for a lookout. Metaphorically, the wolf alarms his master because Macbeth is ready to murder Duncan. 'Tarquin' refers to the Roman king who raped Lucrece. In this particular setting, Macbeth is using Tarquin as a synonym for rape, expressing that rape and murder go hand in hand. Macbeth ends his poetic riff with Murder stalking like a ghost in the night.
Macbeth continues by evoking the image of 'wither'd murder', employing personification to transform the general concept of murder into a spectral presence stalking the land for its victims. Alarum'd denotes guarded, as Sentinel means "one who keeps watch or stands guard." The subject is Murder, who has a wolf for a lookout. Metaphorically, the wolf alarms his master because Macbeth is ready to murder Duncan. 'Tarquin' refers to the Roman king who raped Lucrece. In this particular setting, Macbeth is using Tarquin as a synonym for rape, expressing that rape and murder go hand in hand. Macbeth ends his poetic riff with Murder stalking like a ghost in the night.