Doubtful it stood; / As two spent swimmers that do cling together / And choke their art.
Act I, Scene 2
Context
The Captain begins his battle report by describing the initial standoff between the Scottish forces and the rebels, when neither side could gain ground.
Analysis
The simile compares the deadlocked armies to drowning swimmers who grab each other and 'choke their art'—their own skill becomes useless when panic takes over. Shakespeare uses the verb 'choke' to suggest that desperation suffocates ability, making the battle feel less like strategy and more like mutual destruction driven by exhaustion and fear.
Essay Tip
Support a thesis that Shakespeare portrays war not as glorious but as chaotic and self-defeating—this image sets up a world where violence exhausts everyone involved, making Macbeth's later ambition for power through bloodshed seem doomed from the start.