Meaning & Analysis
To look at someone with a shy, amorous, and longing expression, likened to the gentle, docile gaze of a sheep.
Insights
Amorous Longing
The primary meaning is a look of romantic desire or lustful interest. It's a non-verbal signal of attraction, often gentle but clear in its intent.
Shy Affection
The 'sheep's eye' suggests a bashful, timid, or meek form of admiration. The admirer is not bold or aggressive but expresses their affection with a gentle, almost pleading glance.
Covert Glances
The act of 'casting' an eye implies a quick, stolen, or sidelong glance. This suggests the admirer is being covert, either out of shyness or a desire not to be obvious.
Foolish Infatuation
Given that 'sheepish' can mean foolish or easily led, the look can also imply a doting, silly infatuation, portraying the admirer as somewhat helpless or besotted.
Pastoral Symbolism
The proverb draws on the long-standing symbolism of sheep as creatures of meekness and passivity. The gaze is therefore not predatory or aggressive but gentle and submissive, reflecting pastoral literary traditions where shepherds and their flocks were central to courtship narratives.
Psychology of Courtship
The phrase vividly captures the psychological state of an admirer who is simultaneously filled with desire and a lack of confidence. It's a non-verbal admission of vulnerability, revealing longing mixed with a bashful or timid apprehension.
Gender Dynamics
The consistent phrasing, 'He casts... at her', reflects historical gender dynamics where men were positioned as the initiators of courtship, even if shyly. The woman is the passive recipient of this gaze, highlighting a traditional view of romantic pursuit.
Theatrical and Literary Use
As shown in the quotations from Dekker, Jonson, and Wycherley, the expression was a common feature in Renaissance and Restoration comedy, often used to portray a character's amorous, and sometimes foolish, intentions in a theatrical, slightly mocking manner.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
The core of the proverb is a zoomorphic metaphor, attributing the qualities of a sheep's gaze—gentleness, submission, and perhaps simplicity—to a human expression of romantic interest.
Idiom
The phrase is a fixed idiom whose meaning is culturally understood and cannot be literally derived from its component words. It encapsulates a complex social cue in a concise expression.
Imagery
The proverb creates a potent visual of a specific type of look, immediately conveying a sense of shy longing and amorous intent without needing further explanation.
Verb Choice
The verb 'casts' suggests a deliberate yet quick, almost 'thrown' glance, enhancing the sense of a furtive or shy gesture rather than a confident, steady gaze.
Transcription
Quotations
When ye kyst a shepys ie.
Hither will he repaire with a sheepes looke full grim.
If he look but awry; or cast a sheepes eye.
On whome he many a sheepish eye did cast.
Casting a sheepes eye at hir, away he goes.
Look not, leare not, Ille firke you, for thy head now, one glance, one sheepes eye, any thing at her.
No more sheep's eyes: ye may be caught, I tell ye: these be liquorish lads.
But to say that ever I flung any sheeps eyes in her face how say you mistris Mirable did I ever offer it?
Cast at him, from the boat, a Sheepes eye, and a halfe.
I know, he casts a sheepes eye upon the wench.
On Cleopatra he has cast a sheep's-eye.
To court or look amorously upon any woman, to cast a sheep's eye.
To cast a sheeps eye at one.
I'le be sworn I saw her just now give him the languishing Eye, as they call it, that is Whiting's-Eye, of old called the Sheep's Eye.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.