Meaning & Analysis
It is just as bad to eat the broth that the Devil has been cooked in as it is to eat the Devil himself, because the broth is contaminated by his essence.
Insights
Equivalence of Complicity
The proverb argues that there is no moral difference between committing a wicked act and knowingly enjoying the benefits derived from it. To be associated with or profit from evil is to be fully complicit.
No Moral Compromise
It serves as a warning against moral compromise. Engaging with any aspect of a corrupt or evil system, no matter how seemingly peripheral, is tantamount to embracing the evil itself. There are no half-measures in corruption.
Pervasiveness of Corruption
The 'broth' symbolizes the pervasive influence of a corrupt source. This suggests that the culture, products, or ideas emanating from an evil entity are as toxic as the source and should be equally rejected.
Theological and Political Critique
Rooted in potent theological imagery, the proverb reflects a post-Reformation concern with residual corruption. The 1542 citation by Brinkelow illustrates its use in critiquing reforms that remove the figurehead of an 'evil' system (the Devil) but retain its practices and benefits (the broth), implying that such compromises are spiritually worthless.
Principle of Taint
The proverb powerfully illustrates the principle of taint, where the product of a corrupt source is itself irredeemably corrupt. This concept is central to many ethical and legal frameworks, arguing that benefits derived from illicit activities are illegitimate.
Psychology of Complicity
Psychologically, the proverb attacks the cognitive dissonance required to justify benefiting from a source one deems immoral. It eliminates moral gray areas, forcing an acknowledgment that indirect complicity is as damning as direct participation.
Rhetorical Devices
Symbolism
The proverb uses the Devil and the broth he is boiled in as powerful symbols for a primary evil and its secondary consequences, making an abstract moral argument tangible.
Hyperbole and Grotesque Imagery
The extreme and grotesque imagery of eating the Devil creates a shocking and memorable effect, emphasizing the gravity of moral complicity in a way that a more subdued statement could not.
Analogy
The proverb functions as a stark analogy, equating the act of eating the broth with eating the Devil to argue that benefiting from evil is the same as perpetrating it.
Transcription
Quotations
Yf it be so that God, through the kynge, hath caste out the deuell out of this realme, and yet both he and we soppe of the broth in which the deuell was soden.
(he is sod in).
As good eat the Devil, as the broth he is boil'd in.
(You had as good).
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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