If I do prove her haggard,
Though that her jesses were my dear heart-strings,
I’d whistle her off and let her down the wind,
To prey at fortune.
– William Shakespeare
Othello, Act 3, Scene 3. In this soliloquy Othello uses a falconry metaphor to explain his conflicted feelings about Desdemona. He describes her like a bird of prey needing to be trained and controlled. But if she finds proof that she is cheating, he will let her go and turn her out into the world, though it breaks his heart. This passage speaks to the need that some men have to exercise control over women like they are a piece of property.