Meaning & Analysis
Literally, this statement asserts that a female horse (a mare) of a gray color is superior in quality or performance to another horse, presumably a male one.
Insights
Female Dominance in Marriage
The proverb is a widely understood metaphor for a household in which the wife, not the husband, holds the dominant position. It describes a reversal of traditional gender roles where the woman is the decision-maker and effective head of the family.
Subversion of Hierarchy
More broadly, it symbolizes any situation where a person or entity expected to be subordinate holds the real power. It speaks to a subversion of a formal or expected hierarchy, where the apparent leader is not the one truly in control.
Deceptive Appearances
The saying suggests that true capability and influence are not always aligned with conventional indicators of strength or authority. The 'better horse' may not be the one that appears most powerful, warning against judging by appearances.
Domestic Hierarchy and Patriarchy
This proverb offers a window into the domestic power dynamics of early modern England, a period with rigid patriarchal expectations. Its frequent use, often with a tone of mild mockery towards the husband (a 'silly man'), reveals a societal acknowledgment that the formal hierarchy of male headship was often subverted in practice by a capable or domineering wife.
Psychology of Power
The proverb reflects a psychological tension between prescribed social roles and the realities of individual personalities and relationships. It implicitly critiques the idea that authority is based on gender alone, showing that competence, willpower, and influence determine the true leader within a household.
Symbolism of Color
The choice of a 'gray' mare is significant. While sometimes associated with age and wisdom, 'gray' could also imply something common or unremarkable. This suggests that the phenomenon of female dominance in a relationship was seen as an ordinary, everyday occurrence, a common secret of domestic life.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
The entire phrase functions as a metaphor, using the comparison of horses to comment on human marital power dynamics.
Symbolism
The 'mare' symbolizes the wife and the 'horse' (implicitly a stallion) symbolizes the husband, creating a powerful symbolic contrast that inverts traditional gender expectations of power.
Understatement and Irony
The proverb's effectiveness lies in its gentle subversion of expectations. In a world where stallions were prized for strength, declaring the mare 'better' creates a memorable and slightly humorous image of role reversal.
Transcription
Quotations
She is (quoth he) bent to fors you perfors To know that the grey mare is the better hors.
But who so euer intendeth of that misterie to be tastar, Findeth oft times the graie mare better maister.
The gray mare is the better horse, especiallie if she be a curtal, it must be as the woman will, when all is said and done.
In the house of the silly man of necessitie and of forc: The graie mare will still prooue the better horse.
(is oft).
*Nimis est uxorius.
In the houses and gouernment of fooles wiues do command more than the husbands, for the grey mare is oft the better horse.
*Meaninge, that the most master goeth breechlesse: i. when the silly husband must aske his wife, whether it shall bee a bargaine or not.
For all th' Antiquity you smatter, Is but a Riding, us'd of Course, When the Grey Mare's the better Horse.
*The woman is master, or as we say, wears the breeches.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.