Meaning & Analysis
Describes the futile act of trying to capture the moon's reflection on the surface of water, an impossible task as the reflection is an intangible illusion.
Insights
Pursuit of Illusions
Symbolizes chasing unattainable, illusory, or worthless goals. The moon's reflection is a beautiful but empty image, representing any ambition that lacks substance or is fundamentally impossible to achieve.
Futile Labor
Represents any effort or endeavor that is inherently pointless and doomed to fail. It is a warning against wasting time and energy on tasks with no possibility of a successful outcome.
Misjudging Reality
Highlights the folly of being deceived by appearances and mistaking a semblance of a thing for the thing itself. It cautions against a lack of discernment and the inability to distinguish between the substantial and the ephemeral.
Folklore and Mythology
The proverb echoes ancient fables, such as the Zen story of monkeys trying to rescue the moon from a well, which serves as a parable about mistaking illusion for reality. The moon itself is a powerful symbol of illusion and change, making its reflection a metaphor for ultimate ephemerality.
Literary Context
Used by authors like Shakespeare, the phrase serves as a powerful dismissal of a foolish or impossible request. The early citations, such as Baret's 1580 explanation, confirm its long-standing use to describe seeking 'those things which be not to be gotten'.
Psychological Warning
The proverb addresses the psychological tendency toward wishful thinking and delusion. It critiques a state of mind where desire overwhelms reason, leading individuals to pursue fantasies rather than tangible, realistic objectives.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
The entire proverb is a powerful metaphor for any futile pursuit, using the physical act of chasing a reflection to represent abstract concepts like unrealistic ambition and wasted effort.
Vivid Imagery
The image of 'moonshine in the water' is visually evocative and poetic, creating a memorable picture that contrasts the beauty of the illusion with the foolishness of the action.
Symbolism
'Moonshine' symbolizes the illusory, the unattainable, and the deceptive, while 'water' acts as the medium that both creates and distorts this false reality.
Transcription
Quotations
For moone shyne in the water.
I wyll as sone be hylt, As wayte agayne for the moneshine in the water.
He wayteth for moone shyne in the water.
How they laboured and toyled for life about Moone shine in the water.
Applyed to those which foolishly doe seeke after those things which be not to be gotten, or when we seeke after we knowe not what: and according to our common Prouerbe, to seeke for Moone shyne in the water.
Thou chats about mooneshine in the water.
And catch the moone shine in the water.
A wise man is melancholy for moone-shine in the water.
Do you heare, fellow? Are you drunke, this morning, to make vs looke for moonshine in the water?
We striue for that whereto neyther of vs hath right . . moonshine in the water.
He hopes after moone-shine in the water.
These mens soundings will prove no other, then as the barking of Dogs at Moonshine in the Water.
He waits for Moon-shine in the water.
To seek for the moon in the water, viz. to seek in vain.
Shakespeare Citations
Thou now requests but moonshine in the water.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.