Meaning & Analysis
A woman can instantly devise an excuse by simply looking at her apron strings, a common article of domestic clothing.
Insights
Innate Female Cunning
The proverb is a cynical commentary on female resourcefulness, suggesting that women possess an endless and immediate supply of excuses drawn from their domestic and seemingly mundane world.
Natural Deceptiveness
It implies that women are inherently deceptive, able to conjure justifications from the thinnest of pretexts (the apron string), suggesting a natural inclination toward guile and evasion.
Socially Conditioned Ingenuity
The proverb can be interpreted as a reflection of social roles. Confined to the domestic sphere (symbolized by the apron), a woman develops a particular type of cleverness required to manage her situation, with excuse-making being a primary tool.
Symbolism of Domesticity
The apron string serves as a potent symbol of the domestic sphere, historically considered a woman's domain. The proverb suggests that this environment, far from being limiting, is a source of immense tactical and verbal ingenuity, allowing a woman to navigate social challenges through quick thinking.
Cultural Misogyny
This proverb reflects a deep-seated cultural misogyny, portraying female ingenuity as a form of innate cunning or duplicity. The ease with which an excuse is found ('but to look') reinforces a stereotype of women as inherently evasive or untrustworthy, a notion echoed in the 1672 quotation linking this ability to the devil.
Psychology of Power Dynamics
The proverb speaks to a psychological dynamic within a patriarchal society where direct confrontation may not be an option for women. In such contexts, the ability to create a plausible excuse becomes a crucial survival skill for avoiding blame, deflecting conflict, or exercising indirect agency.
Rhetorical Devices
Symbolism
The 'apron string' functions as a powerful symbol, representing the entire domestic world and the specific type of worldly wisdom and verbal dexterity stereotypically associated with women.
Hyperbole
The phrase 'needs but to look' is a hyperbolic statement emphasizing the supposed effortlessness and immediacy with which a woman can produce a justification, highlighting the proverb's cynical tone.
Metonymy
The apron string, a part of a woman's typical attire, stands in for her entire being or her unique way of thinking, making it a form of metonymy.
Transcription
Quotations
Who first fixed hir eyes vpon hyr apernestrings .. straight foorth had a ready answere.
Wit of a Woman now assist me, O aperne stringes be now auspitious.
But it is great wonder that a Philosopher would be so credulous to believe the excuse if a lightskirts, who to saue her honesty deuised this excuse by looking vpon her apron strings.
Excuses are never further off women then their apron strings.
A kind natur'd wench will .. with twirling of their Apron-string, have as ready an answer, if at any time taken napping, as if a longer time had given them provision.
They say when a woman means mischief, if she but look upon her apron-strings the devil will help her presently.
(They say, a woman need but look).
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.