Meaning & Analysis
A 'collop' is a slice of meat. Therefore, the proverb literally states that a piece of meat cut from one's own body is exceptionally precious and costly, implying a painful and significant sacrifice.
Insights
The High Cost of Kinship
The proverb's primary metaphorical meaning refers to children or close family members as being part of oneself. Any harm, cost, or sacrifice involving them is felt as a direct, personal, and profoundly painful loss.
The Pain of Personal Sacrifice
It illustrates that any significant personal sacrifice—whether of a cherished belief, a life's work, or a part of one's identity—is an agonizing and costly undertaking because it involves giving up a part of oneself.
Trauma of Separation
The act of 'cutting' a collop from the flesh symbolizes the violent and painful nature of separation from a loved one, emphasizing the deep wound left by such a loss.
Embodiment of Kinship
The proverb's power lies in its visceral, pre-modern understanding of kinship, where children are not merely related to their parents but are literal extensions of their physical being. The cross-reference 'My own flesh and blood' reinforces this view, common in the 16th and 17th centuries, which frames familial bonds in deeply corporeal terms.
Literary Resonance
Shakespeare masterfully uses this proverb in 'The Winter's Tale' when Leontes calls his son Mamillius 'my collop', emphasizing the boy as a physical piece of himself. This intensifies the tragedy of Leontes' subsequent delusion, as his rejection of his family becomes an act of self-mutilation.
Economic and Emotional Cost
The proverb's use of 'dear' is a clever pun, meaning both 'beloved' and 'expensive'. This wordplay encapsulates the core theme: the immense value of a child or close relation is precisely what makes any sacrifice for them, or their loss, so incredibly costly.
Psychology of Attachment and Loss
Psychologically, the proverb articulates the concept of the extended self, where an individual's sense of identity includes their children. The metaphor of a physical wound for an emotional loss captures the profound, almost somatic pain experienced when a loved one is harmed or separated.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
The central metaphor powerfully equates a child or loved one with a 'collop' (slice of meat) from one's 'flesh', viscerally conveying deep connection and the pain of loss.
Visceral Imagery
The graphic imagery of cutting flesh from one's own body creates a strong, visceral reaction, making the abstract concepts of sacrifice and emotional pain tangible and unforgettable.
Pun / Double Entendre
The word 'dear' functions as a pun, simultaneously meaning 'beloved' and 'expensive'. This elegantly fuses the emotional value of the 'collop' with the high cost of its loss.
Transcription
Quotations
(cut out of thowne fleshe).
For they dye not all together, that leave collops of their owne flesh alive behinde them.
Were they never so deare collopps of your owne flesh and bloud.
She is a collop of my owne flesh.
Who willed him to consider that his sonne was a collup of his own flesh, and came from his Loynes.
It is a neere collop, saies he, is cut out of the owne flesh.
It is a neir collop is cut out of thy owin flesh.
(cutt out of ones own flesh).
Shakespeare Citations
God knows thou art a collop of my flesh.
Yet were it true To say this boy were like me .. Most dear'st! my collop!
Cross References
Annotations
- slice of meat
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.