In literary symbolism, what does the falcon generally represent?

The falcon is a proud bird, and it appears often in literature,
symbolizing a variety of ideas.  Shakespeare uses falcon imagery in Othello,
when Othello characterizes his relationship with Desdemona using falconry
imagery:

If I do prove
her haggard,

Though that her jesses were my dear
heartstrings,

I'd whistle her off and let her down the
wind

To prey at
fortune.

Here Othello uses "haggard"
to mean hawk or falcon, and Othello declares that if Desdemona is not faithful or true (too
wild), he will whistle her off, as one does a falcon, and let her go free.  In this example, the
falcon is a proud bird that can be trained to hunt by the falconer. The falconer either controls
the falcon or sets it free.  Thus, a husband/wife relationship is symbolized by the relationship
between the falconer and falcon.

We see a similar analogy used in
Taming of the Shrew, when Petruchio uses falconry imagery to discuss his
taming of Kate.

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My falcon now is
sharp and passing empty;
And till she stoop she must not be
full-gorged,
For then she never looks upon her
lure.

Petruchio attempts to
tame his falcon (Kate) by depriving her of food until she "stoops" to obey his
commands.

In "The Second Coming," Yeats uses the falcon to symbolize
the world that has spun out of control--

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The falcon cannot hear the
falconer.

In this case, the falcon
symbolizes mankind while the falconer symbolizes God.  Yeats suggests that we have lost our
guide, our structure, our conscience.

The common element in each of
these examples is the relationship between the falcon and falconer.  The falconer symbolizes the
one is control, the tamer, the guide.  The falcon symbolizes the one who is beautiful and proud,
but needing to be domesticated by the falconer.