Meaning & Analysis
A cat or a kitten ('kit') will behave according to its natural instincts and species ('kind'), such as by hunting or scratching.
Insights
Inherited Nature
The proverb is a metaphor for the influence of heredity, suggesting that children inevitably inherit and display the character, traits, and behaviors of their parents and ancestors.
Unalterable Character
It implies that a person's fundamental character is innate and unchangeable. Sooner or later, their true nature will reveal itself, just as a cat will always act like a cat.
Predictability of Behavior
The saying suggests that behavior is predictable. By understanding a person's background or 'kind', one can anticipate how they will act, as their actions will align with their inherent disposition.
Essence of Determinism
This proverb reflects a pre-modern worldview rooted in biological determinism, where lineage and innate qualities were seen as the primary forces shaping an individual's character and destiny. It speaks to a society where social station and family traits were considered largely inescapable.
Psychology of Essentialism
Psychologically, the proverb touches on the concept of essentialism—the belief that people have a fundamental, unchangeable nature. While it serves as a simple explanation for behavior, this mindset can also underpin prejudice, as it attributes actions to 'kind' rather than individual choice or circumstance.
Literary Application
Shakespeare's use in 'As You Like It'—'If the cat will after kind, So be sure will Rosalinde'—applies the proverb to the theme of love, suggesting that falling in love is as natural and instinctual for a person as hunting is for a cat, thereby framing human emotion as a powerful, innate force.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
The entire phrase functions as a metaphor, using the instinctual behavior of a common animal to comment on the perceived innateness of human character and heredity.
Alliteration
The hard 'c' and 'k' sounds in 'Cat', 'Kit', and 'kind' create a memorable, rhythmic quality that enhances its proverbial force.
Conciseness
The proverb's power lies in its extreme brevity and aphoristic quality, making it a sharp, easily recalled observation on human nature.
Transcription
Quotations
Kytte wyll to kinde, of custome, or by chaunce.
Cat will after kynde.
Cat after kinde will either hunt or scratch.
She would now and then show herself to be her mother's daughter, kitt after kinde.
Thou hast as rheumatique a tongue to persuade . . but thou art even kitt after kind.
Catt to her kind.
(Kit).
Shakespeare Citations
If the cat will after kind, So be sure will Rosalinde.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.