What does Shakespeare say is like a soldier?

Answer 1

Shakespeare makes frequent use of the phrase "like a soldier" which is used to describe a wide variety of human behaviour. "Like soldiers, when their captain once doth yield, They basely fly and dare not stay the field." (Venus and Adonis) means that when the leader loses courage, every part loses courage. "I'll woo you like a soldier, at arms' end," (Two Gentlemen of Verona") means to make love using force, to rape. " I will right myself like a soldier," (Love's Labour's Lost) which would normally mean to save one's reputation by fighting here means to save oneself by not fighting. "This is the sergeant Who like a good and hardy soldier fought 'Gainst my captivity," (Macbeth) means he fought hard and skilfully. " The man commands Like a full soldier," (Othello) means he is used to taking command over others. " He was wont to speak plain and to the purpose, like an honest man and a soldier; and now is he turned orthography" (Much Ado) and "That when he speaks not like a citizen, You find him like a soldier," (Coriolanus) means soldiers don't use poetic speech like politicians and lovers do. "Within my tent his bones to-night shall lie, Most like a soldier, order'd honourably," (Julius Caesar) and "Bear Hamlet like a soldier to the stage," (Hamlet) both talk about burying someone in a military funeral.

The best example comes from Henry V Act 1 Scene 2 where the Archbishop of Canterbury, as part of an incredibly long speech, likens people in society to bees, and soldiers in particular to worker bees: "honey-bees . . .
like soldiers, armed in their stings,
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds,
Which pillage they with merry march bring home
To the tent-royal of their emperor."