Meaning & Analysis
A woman's feelings are never moderate; she either loves with great intensity or hates with equal fervor, with no middle ground between these two states.
Insights
Emotional Volatility
The proverb metaphorically characterizes women as emotionally volatile and unpredictable. Their feelings are depicted as swinging between two poles, lacking the stability and moderation that is implicitly valued.
Gendered Stereotype
It serves as a powerful metaphor for gendered stereotypes, portraying femininity as defined by irrational passion in contrast to an assumed masculine rationality and emotional control.
Totality of Passion
The proverb can be interpreted as a commentary on the perceived all-or-nothing nature of female commitment. In this view, a woman's investment, whether in affection or animosity, is total and absolute.
Absence of Nuance
It suggests that female emotional responses lack nuance and complexity, reducing a wide spectrum of feelings to a simplistic and dramatic binary of extreme adoration or absolute repulsion.
Historical Misogyny
Rooted in historical misogyny, this proverb reflects a patriarchal worldview that frames female emotion as inherently irrational and unstable. The citations from Elizabethan authors like Lyly and Pettie show this was a common trope used to define and confine women to the realm of passion rather than reason.
Literary and Cultural Trope
The proverb serves as a literary and cultural trope of the 'femme fatale' or the overly emotional woman, a character type that is either a nurturing angel or a destructive demon. This simplistic binary has been used for centuries to create dramatic tension while reinforcing limiting gender roles.
Psychological Projection
Psychologically, the proverb projects the cognitive distortion of 'splitting' (black-and-white thinking) onto an entire gender. It reveals a cultural anxiety surrounding the perceived power and unpredictability of female emotions, thereby justifying social controls.
Rhetorical Devices
Antithesis
The proverb is built on the stark contrast between 'loves' and 'hates', creating a powerful and memorable binary opposition that defines its meaning.
Hyperbole
The phrase 'to extremes' is a deliberate exaggeration used to emphasize the supposed intensity of female emotions, making the statement more dramatic and impactful.
Categorical Statement
By starting with 'A WOMAN', the proverb makes a sweeping, universal claim about an entire gender, presenting a subjective cultural bias as an objective truth.
Transcription
Quotations
It is naturally incident to women to enter into extremities, they are either too loving or too loathing.
I haue hearde that women eyther loue entirely or hate deadly.
Seneca also saith this in his Prouerbs . . A woman either loues, or hates, there is no third thing.
A right woman, either loue like an Angell, Or hate like a Deuill, in extreames so to dwell.
Who would be cumbered with these soft-hearted creatures, that are ever in extremes, either too kind or too unkind?
Women are alwayes in extreams.
A woman either loves or hates.
Shakespeare Citations
Thy weal and woe are both of them extremes.
If she did not hate him deadly, she would love him dearly.
For women's fear and love holds quantity, In neither aught, or in extremity.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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