O heavens! O wife, look how our daughter bleeds!
This dagger hath mista’en – for, lo, his house
Is empty on the back of Montague, –
And it mis-sheathed in my daughter’s bosom!
– William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, Scene 3. Lord Capulet describes his daughter’s death as some kind of terrible mistake, Romeo’s dagger somehow sheathing itself in Juliet’s bosom instead of Romeo’s scabbard. The dagger is personified by Capulet, who gives it a male gender and metaphorocally likens Romeo’s empty scabbard to "his house."