Meaning & Analysis
Wealth provides the power and ability to achieve difficult feats or to command and control others, effectively making the money-holder a 'master'.
Insights
Social Hierarchy
Money grants social dominance and influence, allowing the wealthy to command respect and direct the actions of others, creating a clear hierarchy of power.
Instrument of Power
Wealth is portrayed as the ultimate tool for overcoming obstacles. It enables the accomplishment of tasks that would otherwise be impossible, suggesting that financial power can conquer nearly any challenge.
Corrupting Influence
The proverb can be interpreted cynically, suggesting that money can corrupt or 'master' individuals and systems, making merit, skill, and morality secondary to financial influence.
Empowerment and Agency
Financial resources provide individuals with the freedom and agency to pursue their ambitions. In this sense, money allows one to achieve 'mastery' over their own life and circumstances.
Economic Determinism
The proverb reflects the societal shift from feudalism, where power was based on lineage and title, to a market-based economy where wealth became the primary determinant of influence and control. It captures the essence of emerging capitalism, where capital, not birthright, confers authority.
Psychology of Wealth
This proverb encapsulates the psychological link between wealth and a sense of agency or control. Financial resources can foster a feeling of mastery over one's environment and destiny, while a lack thereof can lead to feelings of powerlessness and subservience.
Cultural Universality
Its sentiment is echoed in numerous cross-cultural sayings, such as the cross-referenced 'All things are obedient to money', highlighting a near-universal recognition of capital's power to shape social hierarchies and individual capabilities.
Rhetorical Devices
Alliteration
The repetition of the 'm' sound in 'Money makes masteries' creates a memorable, rhythmic quality that enhances its proverbial force.
Personification
Money is personified as an active agent that 'makes' or creates power, attributing it with a will and force of its own.
Metaphor
The proverb uses 'masteries' and 'masters' as a metaphor for the power, control, and social dominance that wealth confers upon an individual.
Transcription
Quotations
Money makes masteries, old prouerbs declare.
(Masters).
Cross References
Explanation
[Money does wonders.]
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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