Meaning & Analysis
The act of wearing yellow-colored stockings held up by garters that are crisscrossed around the leg. It describes a specific, and by the early 17th century, somewhat eccentric or unfashionable style of dress.
Insights
Manifestation of Jealousy
The primary meaning, rooted in Elizabethan symbolism, is that the attire represents a state of jealousy. The color yellow was directly associated with envy and suspicion, making the stockings an outward sign of this internal turmoil.
Foolish Delusion
As famously depicted in Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night', the act symbolizes foolishness and delusion, particularly in matters of love. It signifies a person who is out of touch with reality, gullibly following absurd advice in the mistaken belief they are admired.
Social Humiliation
To wear yellow stockings and cross garters is to make oneself ridiculous. The phrase represents social humiliation and being the object of mockery, often as a result of one's own vanity and lack of self-awareness.
Literary Archetype
The proverb is inextricably linked to Shakespeare's Malvolio in 'Twelfth Night', where the character is tricked into wearing this attire. This literary context has permanently colored the phrase, making it a powerful allusion to a self-important, deluded individual who is easily manipulated and made a public fool.
Historical Color Symbolism
In Elizabethan and Jacobean England, the color yellow was strongly associated with jealousy and suspicion. The proverb crystallizes this cultural symbolism, transforming a piece of clothing into a direct signifier of the wearer's emotional state.
Psychology of Delusion
The act of wearing such conspicuous and unfashionable attire reveals a psychological state of delusion. It shows how powerful emotions like jealousy or infatuation can impair judgment, making a person blind to their own absurdity and social reality.
Fashion and Social Status
Cross-gartering was a real, if increasingly archaic, fashion. The proverb plays on the tension between genuine fashion and absurd affectation, illustrating how clothing can be used to signal social status, awareness, or, in this case, a complete lack thereof.
Rhetorical Devices
Symbolism
The entire phrase is symbolic. 'Yellow stockings' represent jealousy, while 'cross garters' signify an overly elaborate and foolish affectation. Together, they create a powerful symbol for a deluded and mocked individual.
Vivid Imagery
The proverb creates a striking and slightly absurd visual of a person in this peculiar attire. This memorable imagery makes the abstract concepts of jealousy and foolishness concrete and unforgettable.
Literary Allusion
Since Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night', the phrase has become a direct literary allusion to the character of Malvolio. Its use instantly evokes themes of Puritan pomposity, self-love, and deserved humiliation.
Transcription
Quotations
A rare device; and Flora well perdie, Did painte her yellow for her jealousy.
What stockings haue you put on this morning, Madam? if they be not yellow, change them; that paper is a Letter from some Wench to your Husband.
If my lord Be now grown yellow, and has chose out you To serue his jealousy this way, tell him this.
To take the yellow, viz. to grow angry and fret; the English say out of jealousy, to that purpose, to wear yellow stockings, and cross garters.
To have a hammer in the head, viz. to be jealous; the English phrase to that purpose is, to wear yellow stockings, and cross garters.
Shakespeare Citations
My lady loves me. She did commend my yellow stockings of late, she did praise my leg being cross-garter’d.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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