Meaning & Analysis
The phrase refers to a nose made of wax, metaphorically describing something or someone that is easily shaped, influenced, or manipulated.
Insights
Malleability
Symbolizes a person or thing that lacks firmness or steadfastness, easily bending to the will, opinions, or pressures of others.
Lack of Integrity
Implies a deficiency in moral or intellectual firmness, suggesting susceptibility to manipulation or opportunism.
Adaptability
Viewed positively, it can also denote flexibility and the ability to adjust to changing circumstances without rigidity.
Historical Usage
Early references, such as by J. Melton and Cotton, illustrate how the phrase entered English vernacular to criticize or describe individuals in political or social contexts, often highlighting weakness or political pliability.
Legal and Religious Contexts
Related proverbs and usages equate laws or scriptures to a 'nose of wax,' reflecting anxieties about the ease with which foundational principles can be distorted or bent by those in power.
Symbolism of Wax
Wax’s physical properties—soft, warm, easily reshaped—serve as a powerful metaphor for the human tendency to yield under pressure, blending physical and moral imagery.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
Uses a tangible material, wax, as a metaphorical stand-in for human pliability and susceptibility to influence.
Symbolism
The nose, a prominent facial feature associated with identity and judgment, symbolizes the core character or stance of a person; its malleability represents fundamental instability.
Allusion
The proverb alludes to broader discourses about authority, personal integrity, and social influence, making it resonate in political and legal commentary.
Transcription
Quotations
They meete with no such noses of waxe as will be so iested with all.
To make a nose of wax of; to wrest, wrie, manage, turne, at pleasure.
Being a man [Sir T. Honywood] soft in spirit, and too easy, like a nose of wax, to be turn'd on that side where the greatest strength then was, was taken into Oliver's court.
Cross References
Explanation
[A thing or person easily molded.]
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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