Meaning & Analysis
A predatory wolf is disguised by wearing the skin of an innocent lamb or sheep to conceal its true, dangerous nature.
Insights
Deception and Hidden Danger
The proverb serves as a powerful metaphor for someone who conceals malicious intentions behind a convincing facade of innocence, friendship, or harmlessness. It is a warning about duplicity and hidden threats.
Hypocrisy and False Virtue
It illustrates the concept of hypocrisy, where an individual's outward appearance or professed virtues starkly contrast with their malevolent inner character and intentions.
Exploitation of Trust
The imagery highlights the predatory exploitation of trust. The 'lamb's skin' is a tool to get close to the vulnerable, symbolizing how trust and innocence can be manipulated for destructive ends.
Biblical and Moral Origins
Originating from a biblical warning against false prophets in the Gospel of Matthew, the proverb carries a deep-seated moral and religious weight, framing deception not just as a social transgression but as a spiritual danger.
Archetypal Symbolism
The wolf and lamb have become powerful archetypes in Western culture, symbolizing a primal conflict between predator and prey, evil and innocence. This imagery is extensively used in literature, from Aesop's Fables to Shakespeare, to signal treacherous villainy hidden beneath a veneer of harmlessness.
Psychological Fear of Betrayal
The proverb taps into a fundamental psychological fear of betrayal by those we trust. It speaks to the anxiety of discerning true character, highlighting the human vulnerability to manipulation and the social necessity of skepticism.
Political and Social Rhetoric
Throughout history, this phrase has been a potent tool in political and social rhetoric, used to unmask or accuse opponents of hiding malicious intentions behind a facade of benevolence, patriotism, or piety.
Rhetorical Devices
Symbolism
The core of the proverb is the powerful symbolic contrast between the wolf (danger, evil, predator) and the lamb (innocence, vulnerability, prey), creating a universally understood metaphor for deception.
Antithesis
The proverb's effectiveness is heightened by the stark juxtaposition of the gentle 'lamb's skin' with the savage 'wolf' it conceals, creating a memorable and unsettling image of contradiction.
Imagery
The phrase evokes a single, potent visual image that is both simple and deeply resonant, making the abstract concept of hidden danger tangible and unforgettable.
Transcription
Quotations
Ther ys a wolffe in a lombys skyn.
She is perchaunce A wolfe or gote within a Lammys skyn.
These be wolves in lambes skynnes.
Ane wolfe cled in ane wedders [ram's] skin?
(Of trouthe she is a wolfe in).
Wolves do walke in wethers fells.
The Wolfe weareth a faire face to devoure the Lambe.
They [wolves] gang in more secrete wise, And with sheepes clothing doen hem disguise.
Ward your head from this Woolf lapt in a sheepes skin.
(He is ane wolf in).
(sheepes).
A wolf lap't in a lambe-skin.
(a sheep skin, viz. an hypocrite).
Bible Citations
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Shakespeare Citations
Is he a lamb? His skin is surely lent him, For he’s inclin’d as is the ravenous wolf.
Thee I’ll chase hence, thou wolf in sheep’s array.
How many lambs might the stern wolf betray If like a lamb he could his looks translate!
Cross References
- See St., no. 2601.
- A351 An ass in a lion’s skin.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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