Meaning & Analysis
This is a simile that compares a person's character to an egg. Just as an egg is completely filled with its contents (yolk and white, colloquially 'meat'), the person is described as being completely filled with knavery, leaving no room for honesty or virtue.
Insights
Inherent and Total Corruption
The proverb illustrates the concept of a person being inherently and completely corrupt. Their knavery is not just a behavioral flaw but their core essence, as natural and integral to them as the contents are to an egg.
Deceptive Simplicity
An egg's plain, smooth shell conceals its dense contents. Metaphorically, this suggests that a person's simple or unassuming appearance can hide a mind that is teeming with deceit, cunning, and malicious intent.
Saturation of Character
The comparison suggests a state of maximum capacity for a negative trait. The individual has reached a saturation point of wickedness or deceitfulness, implying they are incapable of acting in any other manner.
Subversion of Symbolism
The proverb masterfully subverts the egg's universal symbolism of life, potential, and wholeness. By filling this symbol with 'knavery', it creates a potent and jarring image of a nature that is fundamentally corrupted, where potential for good has been entirely displaced by deceit.
Literary and Rhetorical Flexibility
The simile's adaptability is showcased in its literary usage, such as in Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet', where Mercutio's head is 'as full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat'. This demonstrates how the structure can be used to describe any all-consuming trait, highlighting its power as a rhetorical formula for total saturation.
Psychology of Absolutes
The proverb reflects a psychological tendency to perceive character in absolute terms. It captures the experience of dealing with someone so consistently deceitful that their knavery appears to be their entire substance, leaving no room for any other quality. This hyperbole serves as a cognitive shortcut for total moral condemnation.
Rhetorical Devices
Simile
The proverb is a classic simile, using 'as...as' to explicitly compare an abstract quality (knavery) with a concrete, familiar image (a full egg), making the critique vivid and easily understood.
Hyperbole
The assertion that someone is as full of a single trait as an egg is of meat is an exaggeration. This hyperbole is used for emphasis, creating a powerful and memorable insult that underscores the extremity of the person's character flaw.
Domestic Imagery
The use of a simple, domestic object—the egg—creates strong and relatable imagery. It makes the abstract concept of total deceit feel tangible and contained, enhancing the proverb's impact.
Transcription
Quotations
An egge is not so ful of meate, as she is ful of lyes.
(as an egge of meat).
(The Colonel's as full of roggery as).
(To be as full of Roguery, and unhappy tricks, as).
As full as an egg is of meat, or as a toad of poison.
As full of Roguery as an Egg is full of Meat.
Shakespeare Citations
Thy head is as full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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