Meaning & Analysis
This is a direct simile comparing the color and luster of an object, most often hair, to that of gold, signifying a bright, shining yellow.
Insights
Ultimate Value and Perfection
The comparison extends beyond color to imply supreme value, quality, and perfection. Just as gold is a precious metal, the object described is implied to be of the highest worth, rare, and desirable.
Idealized Beauty
By comparing something to gold, especially hair as seen in the quotations, the proverb suggests an idealized, almost divine form of beauty. It elevates the subject to a standard of aesthetic perfection associated with mythical or angelic figures.
Incorruptibility and Purity
Gold's resistance to tarnish and decay lends a metaphorical sense of purity, permanence, and incorruptibility. The comparison suggests that the object possesses an enduring, untarnished quality.
Renaissance Beauty Standards
The proverb reflects a deeply rooted Renaissance aesthetic that idealized golden hair as the pinnacle of beauty, a standard evident in the period's art and literature. The reference to 'gold of araby' in one quotation underscores the exoticism and high value associated with this ideal, linking beauty to rarity and wealth.
Symbolism of Purity and Value
Beyond a simple color comparison, invoking gold taps into its universal symbolism of incorruptibility, purity, and divinity. As a metal that does not tarnish, gold imparts a sense of perfection and timeless value to the object being described, elevating it from mundane to ideal.
Psychology of Color
The simile reveals a psychological preference for light and brightness, associating the color yellow and a shining quality with vitality, desirability, and high status. This reflects a common cognitive bias where luminosity is equated with positive attributes.
Rhetorical Devices
Simile
The proverb is a classic simile, using 'as...as' to create a direct, vivid, and universally understood comparison.
Symbolism
Gold serves as a powerful symbol for wealth, beauty, purity, and high status, enriching the simile with layers of cultural and economic meaning.
Hyperbole
Describing a natural feature like hair as having the metallic sheen and color of gold is a form of hyperbole, exaggerating its qualities to emphasize its extraordinary beauty and value.
Transcription
Quotations
And then yt [hair] cryspeth and shyneth as bryght as any pyriled gold.
Her herr .. Farr shynyng beyond fyne gold of araby.
I can make it [hair] shine like golde.
Yelow to be lyke gold.
Your haire is as yelow as any gold.
Hir owne haire .. yellow is as gold.
Yellow as gold, faire bright yellow.
Shall make thy haire as yellow as gold.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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