The best of men is--
Spare in diet
Free from gross passion or of mirth or anger,
Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood.
(_Henry V._, II., ii., 131-3.)
His is
the nature
Whom passion could not shake--whose solid virtue
The shot of accident nor dart of chance
Could neither graze nor pierce.
(_Othello_, IV., i., 176-9.)
Stability of temperament is the finest fruit of the free exercise of
the will; it is the noblest of masculine excellences.
Give me that man
That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him
In my heart's core--ay, in my heart of hearts.
(_Hamlet_, III., ii., 76-8.)
In spite of his many beautiful portrayals of the charms and tenderness
and innocence of womanhood, Shakespeare had less hope in the ultimate
capacity of women to control their destiny than in the ultimate
capacity of men. The greatest of his female creations, Lady Macbeth
and Cleopatra, stand in a category of their own. They do not lack high
power of will, even if they are unable so to commingle blood and
judgment as to master fate.
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