He is a MERCHANT of eelskins

Insights

Pretense and Deception

The proverb is a metaphor for a person who pretends to be important, knowledgeable, or wealthy but is engaged in trivial, worthless, or fraudulent activities. It critiques the facade of legitimacy without underlying substance.

Commercial Failure

It describes an individual whose business ventures or assets are utterly without value, leading to financial ruin. To become a merchant of eelskins is to fail spectacularly in one's commercial ambitions.

Insignificance and Triviality

The phrase can be used to label someone's profession or concerns as petty and insignificant. It dismisses their work as being as inconsequential as trading in useless skins.

Lack of Substance

The term characterizes someone who is a 'merchant without money or ware'. It points to a hollowed-out existence, where the form of a profession exists but the essential components—capital, valuable goods, success—are absent.

Historical Symbolism

Eelskins were historically considered of negligible value, slippery, and difficult to handle. This makes them a potent symbol for worthless, deceptive, or insubstantial ventures. The slipperiness of the skin also subtly alludes to the untrustworthy or elusive character of the 'merchant' himself.

Socio-Economic Satire

The proverb draws its satirical power from the contrast between the respectable, often wealthy status of a 'merchant' in the 16th and 17th centuries and the utter worthlessness of the goods being traded. It serves as a social critique of those who adopt titles or airs of importance without possessing the substance to justify them.

Psychological Deflation

The phrase psychologically deflates individuals perceived as pretentious or self-important. By labeling their endeavors as equivalent to trading in eelskins, the proverb exposes a gap between their self-perception and the trivial reality of their contributions or assets.

Consequence of Incompetence

As seen in Ascham's 1545 quotation, the proverb describes the outcome of incompetence—a skilled navigator who fails at sea becomes a 'marchaunt of Eele skinnes'. It represents a fall from a legitimate profession into a state of ruin and pretense.

Rhetorical Devices

Metaphor

The entire phrase is a metaphor where 'eelskins' represent any worthless or deceptive enterprise, and 'merchant' stands for the person engaged in it.

Irony

A strong sense of irony is created by juxtaposing the respectable title of 'merchant' with the absurdly valueless commodity of 'eelskins', effectively mocking the subject's pretensions.

Imagery

The proverb uses evocative imagery of trading in slippery, useless skins to create a memorable and visceral insult against a person's character or business acumen.