Meaning & Analysis
A set of instructions on how to interact with men based on their coloration: confide in a red-haired man, befriend a brown-haired man, be prepared for a fight with a pale man, and guard your wife from a dark-haired man.
Insights
Appearance as Character
The proverb functions as a metaphorical guide to social alliances and threats, using hair and skin color as symbols for underlying character traits. It suggests that one's external appearance is a direct and reliable indicator of their inner nature—be it wisdom, trustworthiness, envy, or lust.
A Formula for Social Trust
Each color-coded instruction represents a strategy for navigating social trust. 'Breaking bread' symbolizes forming alliances, 'reading thy rede' signifies seeking counsel, 'drawing thy knife' indicates perceiving a direct threat, and 'keeping thy wife' points to guarding against sexual rivalry.
Codified Prejudice
The proverb serves as a cultural artifact of codified prejudice, transforming physical traits into symbols of virtue or vice. It provides a framework for justifying discriminatory behavior and social exclusion based on superficial characteristics.
Physiognomy and Stereotyping
This proverb is a stark example of physiognomy, the medieval and early modern belief that a person's character could be divined from their physical appearance. It reflects a pre-scientific attempt to codify social interactions and manage risk by stereotyping individuals based on their hair and skin color.
Cultural Anxiety and Social Risk
The proverb encapsulates a set of cultural anxieties regarding trust, betrayal, and fidelity. Each color is linked to a specific social function or threat: red hair with counsel, brown with companionship, paleness with violent envy, and black hair with sexual danger, revealing deep-seated societal biases.
Historical Folklore
The advice for each color reflects historical European folklore. While red hair was often associated with untrustworthiness (e.g., Judas), this proverb assigns it wisdom. Paleness was linked to sickness and envy, while dark features were often stereotyped as indicators of unrestrained passion or lustfulness, tropes common in literature of the period.
Psychology of Prejudice
Psychologically, the proverb serves as a cognitive shortcut or heuristic for navigating a complex social world. It simplifies judgment by creating rigid, albeit baseless, categories, demonstrating a human tendency to seek simple patterns to predict the behavior of others, often leading to prejudice.
Rhetorical Devices
Parallelism
The proverb is built on a strong parallel structure ('To a... man... thy...'), creating a memorable, rhythmic, and easily recited formula for social conduct.
Imperative Mood
The use of commands ('read', 'break', 'draw', 'keep') gives the proverb an authoritative tone, presenting its prejudiced advice as undeniable rules of behavior.
Alliteration
The phrases 'read thy rede' and 'break thy bread' use alliteration, which enhances their poetic quality and makes the advice more memorable and impactful.
Symbolism
Each color—red, brown, pale, and black—is used symbolically to represent a specific character trait: wisdom, trustworthiness, envy, and lust, respectively.
Transcription
Quotations
*The Red is wise, the Broun trusty The pale envyous, and the black lusty.
As likewise they ayme, that the red-headed or red-bearded are crafty; and the browne complexioned trusty.
The sallow complectioned fellow, with a blacke beard . . [is] to be suspected about Womens matters, according to the old saying; To a Red man reade thy Reade, With a Browne man breake thy Bread, At a Paleman draw thy Knife, From a Blacke man keep thy Wife. Which wee expound after this manner; The Red is wise, the Browne trusty, The Pale enuious, and the Blacke lusty.
(With a red man).
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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