The chidden billow seems to pelt the clouds;
The wind-shaked surge, with high and monstrous mane,
Seems to cast water on the burning bear,
And quench the guards of the ever-fixed pole:
I never did like molestation view
On the enchafed flood.
– William Shakespeare
Othello, Act 2, Scene 1. A huge sea storm off the shores of Cyprus that scatters the invading Turkish fleet prompts this metaphor from the Second Gentleman. He compares the tempest to an attack by the sea on the sky, with waves rising up to quench the constellation Ursa Minor ("burning bear") and North Star ("ever-fixed pole"). This is a good example of pathetic fallacy, the tempest symbolizing and foreshadowing the coming domestic storm in Othello and Desdemona’s lives.