Meaning & Analysis
The phrase literally refers to the Devil and his mother ('dam'), invoking a pair of supremely evil entities.
Insights
Comprehensive Evil
The proverb is used to signify a complete and thorough wickedness, encompassing not just a single evil but its source and entire system. It's a way of saying 'the whole corrupt lot'.
Escalation of Trouble
It functions as an emphatic curse or an expression of overwhelming frustration, suggesting a situation has gone from bad to worse by involving a primary problem (the Devil) and its associated counterpart (his dam).
An Inseparable, Malevolent Pair
The phrase suggests two malevolent or troublesome entities that are intrinsically and inseparably linked, where the presence of one implies the other, amplifying the sense of dread or annoyance.
Folkloric Origins
The concept of the Devil's 'dam' (mother) is a product of folk imagination, not formal theology, which depicts the Devil as a fallen angel. This folkloric origin, possibly echoing pre-Christian figures like Grendel's mother, domesticates evil by giving it a family, making it both more comprehensible and grotesquely familiar.
Literary and Theatrical Force
The phrase was a popular and powerful curse in Elizabethan and Jacobean literature, used by authors like Marlowe and Shakespeare to convey ultimate contempt or despair. Its appearance in works like 'Doctor Faustus' and 'Othello' highlights its role in expressing the totality of damnation and corruption.
Gender and Evil
By including a female figure—the 'dam'—as the progenitor of evil, the proverb taps into early modern anxieties about witchcraft and uncontrolled female power. The 'dam' represents a primal, generative source of malevolence, making the Devil's evil seem inherited and foundational.
Psychology of Curses
Psychologically, the phrase functions as an emphatic intensifier. Adding 'and his dam' escalates a simple curse into a comprehensive condemnation, encompassing not just a single evil entity but its entire lineage. It is a form of verbal maximalism used to express overwhelming frustration.
Rhetorical Devices
Alliteration
The repetition of the 'd' sound in 'Devil' and 'dam' creates a hard, percussive rhythm that makes the phrase memorable and satisfyingly emphatic to say as a curse.
Hyperbole / Intensification
The phrase is a form of hyperbole, amplifying a sentiment of frustration or condemnation by invoking not just one ultimate evil, but a second, related one to signify totality.
Dyadic Structure
It creates a powerful dyad, a two-part structure that encapsulates a complex idea (total corruption) into a simple, memorable pairing.
Transcription
Quotations
The deuyll or hys dam.
But they saye that ye purchase the Deuill, his dame, and all.
The diuell with his dam, hath more rest in hell, Than I haue here with the.
Think on the Devil. —And his dam too.
The devil and his dam, The Moor and my mother.
Me thought as both their heads together came, I saw the devill kissing of his dam.
Shee had beene delivered from the Devill and his dame.
Shakespeare Citations
Devil, or devil's dam, I'll conjure thee. Blood will I draw on thee—thou art a witch.
The devil take one party and his dam the other!
Let the devil and his dam haunt you!
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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