\"Screw your courage to the sticking place\" is one of those phrases almost everyone has heard,<\/p>\n
The phrase \"screw your courage to the sticking place\" is an idiom or expression used to encourage someone to be brave and steadfas<\/strong>t, usually in the face of uncertainty.<\/p>\n It can also mean \"to keep your nerve.\" <\/strong><\/p>\n Today, Shakespeare\u2019s idioms are deeply embedded in the popular consciousness and often are better known to younger people from their borrowed context.<\/p>\n Screw your courage to the sticking place is one of these popular and oft-borrowed phrases. Readers may recognize it, if not from the original Shakespeare, then from Hamilton<\/em>, where it appears in the song Take a Break<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n But Hamilton<\/em> isn\u2019t the only musical to reference this famous line from Shakespeare.<\/p>\n Disney also borrows the line for its Mob Song<\/em> in the film Beauty and the Beast<\/em><\/a>. As in Macbeth<\/em>, the line incites people into violence.<\/p>\n The phrase \"screw your courage to the sticking place\"<\/strong> comes from William Shakespeare\u2019s play Macbeth<\/em>.<\/p>\n The quote occurs early in the play, in Act I, scene vii.<\/a><\/p>\n In this scene, Lady Macbeth tries to persuade her husband to murder the then-king of Scotland, Duncan, and seize the throne.<\/p>\n Macbeth has understandable misgivings about murdering his royal guests, but not because he thinks there\u2019s anything wrong with murder. Instead, Macbeth worries they will fail or get caught.<\/p>\n \"We fail?\" says his wife. \"But screw your courage to the sticking place\/ and we\u2019ll not fail.\"<\/p>\n But what exactly is Lady Macbeth talking about as she chivvies her nervous husband into action?<\/p>\n Earlier in the scene, Lady Macbeth disavows her inheritance as a mother. In an equally famous line, she demands of the universe, \"unsex me here.<\/a>\" That\u2019s Act I, scene v.<\/p>\n In Act I, scene vii, she justifies why this should be the case as she demonstrates an atypical knowledge of archery<\/a> for the average thane\u2019s<\/a> wife.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because when Lady Macbeth talks about sticking places, she\u2019s using the masculine language of archery <\/strong>to nerve her husband for murder.<\/p>\n To operate a crossbow, you turn a screw to ratchet up the bow's tension before firing. The tighter you turn the screw, the more tension you create and the steadier the arrow is in its notch.<\/p>\n Specifically, the sticking place is the point on the bow where the tension forces the arrow into immobility until you\u2019re ready to release it at your target.<\/p>\n Lady Macbeth wants her husband to torque and hold onto his courage in the same way. She needs him to fasten it in place and release it when called upon in the murder of King Duncan. If he does this, he will hit his target the same way a primed arrow hits a bullseye.<\/p>\n But Shakespeare wouldn\u2019t be Shakespeare if his lines didn\u2019t have layers upon layers of meaning. So, it comes as no surprise archery isn\u2019t the only thing Lady Macbeth is talking about.<\/p>\n The sticking place<\/a> can also be the place where you strike to kill an animal in the hunt or when butchering.<\/p>\n In other words, Lady Macbeth insinuates that the only way their coup can fail is if Macbeth wounds King Duncan.<\/p>\n She\u2019s saying be brave and strike to kill,<\/strong> and they\u2019ll succeed.<\/p>\n Various other idioms and expressions convey the same meaning as \"screw your courage to the sticking place.\"<\/p>\n Some of these include:<\/p>\n To hold your nerve<\/a> is to be brave or courageous, often in the face of overwhelming odds.<\/p>\n It shares both the call to courage with Macbeth and also the implication that by seizing that courage, you can overcome adversity.<\/p>\n Like \"screw your courage to the sticking place,\" the exhortation to be of stout heart<\/a> is a call to bravery.<\/p>\n It urges the listener to find and utilize potentially untapped courage to achieve their goal.<\/p>\nExamples in Sentences<\/h2>\n
Hamilton<\/h3>\n
Beauty and the Beast<\/h3>\n
Origin of Screw Your Courage to the Sticking Place<\/h2>\n
What Is a Sticking Place?<\/h3>\n
What Else is a Sticking Place?<\/h3>\n
Similar Idioms to Screw Your Courage to the Sticking Place<\/h2>\n
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Hold Your Nerve<\/h3>\n
Be of Stout Heart<\/h3>\n
(Find Out) What You\u2019re Made Of<\/h3>\n