Till that Bellona’s bridegroom, lapp’d in proof, / Confronted him with self-comparisons, / Point against point, rebellious arm ’gainst arm, / Curbing his lavish spirit: and, to conclude, / The victory fell on us.
Act I, Scene 2
Context
Ross arrives and reports to Duncan on Macbeth's victory over the Norwegian king and the traitorous Thane of Cawdor, describing Macbeth's prowess in battle.
Analysis
Calling Macbeth 'Bellona's bridegroom'—husband to the Roman goddess of war—casts him as wedded to violence itself, not just skilled at it. The phrase 'lapp'd in proof' (wrapped in tested armor) then makes that marriage literal: Macbeth is enclosed in war, inseparable from it, as if his identity and his capacity for killing are one and the same.
Essay Tip
Use this to argue that Shakespeare presents Macbeth as defined entirely by his warrior role before he even appears onstage—his later inability to imagine himself outside of violence and ambition is the inevitable result of a society that made him 'marry' war.