Meaning & Analysis
The proverb means that someone who sets traps or schemes for others is sometimes ensnared or harmed by their own devices.
Insights
Poetic Justice
The proverb expresses the idea that those who plot harm against others may become victims of their own schemes, illustrating the concept of poetic or moral justice.
Consequences of Malice
It serves as a warning that harmful intentions, deceit, or trickery often backfire, with the perpetrator suffering the fate intended for others.
Historical Symbolism
The fowler—one who hunts birds with nets or snares—has long been a symbol of cunning and entrapment in literature and folklore. The proverb’s roots reach back to classical antiquity and appear in Erasmus’s 'Adagia.' Its moral lesson is echoed in ancient, biblical, and Renaissance sources.
Literary and Cultural Resonance
Shakespeare and many other writers employ variations of this motif: 'hoist with his own petard' or 'caught in his own springe.' The theme of the trapper ensnared by his own device is universal, found in proverbs worldwide, reinforcing the inevitability of retributive justice.
Psychological Dimensions
The proverb taps into the psychological satisfaction people derive from seeing the cunning undone by their own tricks. It also cautions against overconfidence, self-deception, and the risks of manipulative behavior.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
The fowler and his net serve as a metaphor for any plotter and their schemes, making the proverb widely applicable and instantly intelligible.
Irony
The irony that the hunter becomes the hunted strengthens the proverb’s impact and memorability.
Imagery
The vivid imagery of a trapper ensnared by his own net brings the lesson to life, making the proverb visually and emotionally compelling.
Transcription
Quotations
Suo ipsius laqueo captus est.
She may be taken in the net which she layeth to entangle other.
You shall bee then taken in your owne net.
But ther curses shall retorne upon themselves and they shalbe intrapped in ther owne snares.
I'm surpriz'd in my own snare.
The ffowler caught in his owne snare.
(sometimes is catch'd).
He is catcht in his own snare.
Shakespeare Citations
For 'tis sport to have the enginer Hoist with his own petar.
How is't, Laertes? —Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric. I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery.
Cross References
- DÜr., I, no. 643
- OTTO, no. 917
- T. 463, p. 236.
- F166 To be shot with one's own feathers
- P356 He falls into the pit he digs for another.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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