Meaning & Analysis
Excessive worry, sorrow, or anxiety ('care') is so destructive that it can cause the death of even a resilient creature like a cat.
Insights
The Destructive Power of Worry
The proverb serves as a powerful metaphor for the life-shortening and debilitating effects of chronic stress and anxiety on any living being. It warns that mental burdens have severe physical consequences.
The Limits of Resilience
By using a cat—an animal famed for its resilience and 'nine lives'—the proverb illustrates that even the strongest and most durable among us have a breaking point. It suggests that no amount of innate toughness is immune to the corrosive effects of persistent anxiety.
A Warning Against Anxiety
The saying functions as a piece of cautionary advice, urging individuals to actively resist succumbing to despair and worry. It implicitly advocates for a more carefree approach to life to preserve one's health and well-being.
Historical Meaning of 'Care'
The proverb's meaning is deepened by the historical definition of 'care', which connoted not just worry but profound sorrow and grief. This aligns with the biblical citation 'Sorrow hath killed many' and reflects a pre-modern understanding of the severe physical toll of emotional distress.
Symbolism of Resilience
The choice of a 'cat' is a masterful use of cultural symbolism. Cats are proverbially resilient, famously having 'nine lives'. The proverb uses this symbol to create a powerful hyperbole: if worry can destroy a creature known for its extraordinary survival instincts, its effect on humans must be devastating.
Psychological Insight
The proverb is an early folk articulation of the mind-body connection, recognizing that psychological states like chronic anxiety have life-threatening physical consequences. It serves as a timeless piece of folk wisdom, predating modern medical discourse on stress-related illness.
Literary Resonance
Shakespeare's use of the proverb in 'Much Ado About Nothing'—'What though care kill'd a cat, thou hast mettle enough in thee to kill care'—transforms it from a passive warning into a call to action, suggesting that humans have the agency to combat and overcome anxiety.
Rhetorical Devices
Hyperbole
The proverb uses hyperbole to emphasize the extreme danger of anxiety. Stating that worry can kill an animal proverbially known for having nine lives makes the warning more dramatic and memorable.
Alliteration
The hard 'c' sound in 'Care' and 'cat' creates a memorable and phonetically punchy phrase, enhancing its proverbial quality.
Personification
'Care' is personified as a malevolent force or killer, turning an abstract emotion into a tangible antagonist that one must guard against. This is reinforced in Shakespeare's line, 'care's an enemy to life.'
Transcription
Quotations
Let care kill a catte, Wee'le laugh and be fatte.
They say griefe often shortens life.
Care live with cats, I defie thee.
(kill an horse).
My Grannam she hath often said, that care will kill a Cat.
*And yet a cat is said to have nine lives.
Exiling fretting Care, that kills a Cat.
Care will kill a Cat; yet there's no living without it.
Bible Citations
Sorrow hath killed many.
Shakespeare Citations
This sorrow is an enemy.
What though care kill'd a cat, thou hast mettle enough in thee to kill care.
I am sure care's an enemy to life.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.