The SMOKE follows the fair

Insights

Unwanted Attention

Smoke symbolizes the unwanted attention, gossip, or minor troubles that often plague those who are admired or possess desirable qualities. Their 'fairness' attracts not just praise but also negative side effects.

Target of Envy

The saying can be interpreted as a comment on jealousy. Just as smoke irritates the eyes, the 'fair' or successful often attract the stinging envy and veiled negativity of others.

Inevitable Annoyance

It suggests an ironic natural law where positive attributes inevitably attract their opposite. Beauty, a source of pleasure, paradoxically draws an element of discomfort to itself, highlighting a fundamental balance of good and bad.

Beauty's Burden

The proverb can be seen as a fatalistic observation on destiny. Just as the fair person cannot escape the smoke, it implies that one cannot avoid the inconvenient consequences that come with one's inherent gifts or station in life.

Folk Belief and Flattery

This proverb originates from a pre-scientific folk belief, mentioned as ancient even in 17th-century texts, which attributes social meaning to a random physical phenomenon. It transforms the annoyance of smoke into a form of flattery.

Psychological Function

Psychologically, the saying serves as a social lubricant. By framing an inconvenience as a compliment, it defuses potential irritation in a group setting, revealing a human tendency to impose flattering or personal narratives onto random events.

Cultural Trope of Beauty

Culturally, the proverb taps into the enduring trope that exceptional qualities, particularly beauty (the 'fair'), attract both admiration and unwanted consequences. It is a domestic, everyday reflection of the grander literary theme that prominence invites trouble.

Gender and Attraction

The term 'fair' traditionally denotes female beauty, subtly embedding a gendered perspective. It suggests a woman's beauty is a powerful, almost elemental force that can influence the physical world, while also making her a passive recipient of bothersome attention.

Rhetorical Devices

Personification

The proverb gives smoke a will of its own, portraying it as an active agent that 'follows' or 'pursues' a person. This enlivens the image and adds a sense of magical or fateful intention.

Alliteration

The repetition of the 'f' sound in 'follows the fair' creates a pleasing, memorable rhythm, which enhances its status as a piece of easily repeatable folk wisdom.

Irony

There is a gentle irony in the juxtaposition of an unpleasant, irritating substance (smoke) with a pleasant, desirable quality (fairness), highlighting a paradoxical connection between the two.