Meaning & Analysis
A dog, having vomited, will often return to consume what it has regurgitated.
Insights
Relapse into Vice or Folly
The proverb is a powerful metaphor for recidivism, particularly the tendency of a person to revert to a destructive habit, vice, or foolish behavior that they had previously rejected or renounced. It emphasizes the repulsiveness of such a relapse.
Inherent Nature and Incorrigibility
It suggests a fundamental inability to change one's nature. The dog's action is instinctual and base, implying that the person's return to their old ways is not a conscious choice but an ingrained, inescapable part of their character.
Unnatural Regression
The act of consuming something already expelled as foul and unhealthy symbolizes a self-destructive and unnatural regression. It warns against returning to past mistakes, relationships, or situations that have already proven to be toxic.
Shame and Degradation
The disgusting imagery serves to highlight the shame and degradation associated with backsliding. It is not just a failure, but a return to something that is inherently unclean and contemptible.
Biblical and Moral Condemnation
The proverb's enduring power in Western culture is rooted in its prominent place in the Bible (Proverbs 26:11), where it serves as a potent metaphor for a fool's inescapable return to folly. This religious context frames the act not merely as a mistake, but as a moral and spiritual regression.
Psychology of Compulsive Behavior
The proverb taps into the psychological concept of compulsive repetition, where individuals are drawn back to familiar, yet destructive, patterns of behavior. The visceral disgust evoked by the image acts as a powerful form of social and self-condemnation, intended to shame and deter such relapses.
Literary and Rhetorical Force
The proverb's use by writers like Shakespeare and his contemporaries highlights its integration into the common vernacular as a potent insult. It was used to express ultimate contempt for an opponent's lack of integrity, implying they are not just wrong, but unnaturally returning to a state of corruption they had seemingly overcome.
Naturalistic Foundation
Grounded in a stark, observable animal behavior, the proverb's metaphor feels viscerally true. This naturalistic observation gives it a raw, undeniable power that transcends abstract moralizing, making the comparison to human folly both shocking and memorable.
Rhetorical Devices
Visceral Imagery
The proverb's primary stylistic feature is its use of shocking, visceral imagery. The mental picture of a dog eating its own vomit is intentionally repulsive, creating a strong emotional response that underscores the ugliness of moral relapse.
Metaphor
The entire phrase functions as a powerful metaphor, comparing a human's return to foolish or sinful behavior with a common but revolting animal act, thereby characterizing the human action as base and instinctual.
Symbolism
The 'dog' symbolizes a base, unthinking creature driven by instinct, while the 'vomit' symbolizes a sin, folly, or vice that has been rightfully rejected. The symbolism is stark and universally understood.
Biblical Allusion
Due to its biblical origins, quoting this proverb is often a direct allusion to scripture, carrying with it a heavy weight of moral and religious authority and condemnation.
Transcription
Quotations
Canis reversus ad vomitum.
Like as the dogg turneth agayne to his vomite, euen so a foole begynnetth his foolishness agayne a fresh.
The dogge turneth agayne to eate that he vomyted. Aprouerbe referred to hym, whiche beynge reconsyled to god, retourneth againe to his olde condicions and vices.
Shall I continue her company, which will convert to my confusion? Shall I with the dog redire ad vomitum?
With what face Euphues canst thou returne to thy vomit, seeming with the greedy hounde to lap vp that which thou diddest cast vp.
The dogge turneth to his vomite againe.
So that he left winch-ing, and sate quiet as a Lamb, falling to his old vomite of Councell, which he had cast vp before.
Like a dog to his owne vomit againe.
Thus like a Dog she returns to her Vomit, or as a Spider, who, perceiving her Caul broken and torn in Pieces, still spinneth a new Web.
This bark is no soner gone . . but . . the late conuerted Gouernour . . returns to his vomitt, to his vomitt indeed.
Bible Citations
As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.
Shakespeare Citations
(Thou common dog) . . now thou wouldst eat thy dead vomit up.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.