Meaning & Analysis
Every woman, without exception, is capable of being successfully courted or seduced, provided the suitor is persistent enough or uses the right strategy.
Insights
Courtship as Conquest
The proverb frames romantic and sexual pursuit as a form of conquest or a game to be won. Women are positioned not as active agents with their own desires, but as passive objectives or prizes to be claimed through male effort and strategy.
The Virtue of Persistence
It functions as a justification for relentless pursuit, suggesting that persistence is the key to overcoming any woman's initial resistance. This interpretation dismisses female rejection as a mere formality or a test of the suitor's resolve.
A Theory of Gender
The proverb makes a sweeping generalization about an entire gender, positing a universal psychological susceptibility. It erases individuality and presents women as a monolithic group defined by an inherent 'winnable' quality.
Patriarchal Worldview
This proverb reflects the deeply patriarchal social structure of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, where women often had limited social and economic agency. It reinforces a worldview where male initiative is paramount and female consent is seen as an inevitability to be achieved through persistence rather than a prerequisite to be sought.
Literary and Dramatic Trope
As demonstrated by its repeated use in Shakespeare's plays (e.g., 'Richard III', 'Titus Andronicus'), this saying functioned as a powerful literary trope. It was often used by male characters to justify their aggressive or unsolicited courtship, framing romantic pursuit as a form of strategic conquest.
Psychology of Male Persistence
Psychologically, the proverb serves to bolster the male ego and rationalize persistence in the face of rejection. It denies female autonomy by suggesting a woman's 'no' is not a final decision but a temporary obstacle, a viewpoint that dangerously undermines the concept of consent.
Classical Antecedents
The idea has roots in classical literature, particularly Ovid's 'Ars Amatoria' (The Art of Love), which provided a manual for seduction and was highly influential in Renaissance Europe. This classical precedent lent an air of timeless authority to the proverb's underlying sentiment.
Rhetorical Devices
Hyperbolic Generalization
The use of the absolute quantifier 'All' is a form of hyperbole that makes the statement sweeping and definitive. This rhetorical overstatement makes the proverb impactful and memorable, while also revealing its inherent bias.
Alliteration
The alliteration between 'women' and 'won' creates a concise and rhythmic link between the subject and the outcome, making the phrase catchy and easy to remember.
Connotative Diction
The verb 'won' carries strong connotations of victory, competition, and acquisition. This specific word choice frames human relationships in terms of a power dynamic, rather than mutual affection or partnership.
Transcription
Quotations
There is no woeman, Euphues, but shee will yeelde in time.
Wherefore neuer geuing ouer, which Ouid commaundes vs vs in his Art of louing.
Imagine with thy selfe all [women] are to bee won.
A woman and therefore to be woone.
In time a man may gaine any woman.
She's a woman, is she not? . . . then let me alone with her.
A man should not doubt to ouer-come any woman.
Women were in their creation ordained to be wooed, and to be won.
Shakespeare Citations
She is a woman, therefore may be woo'd; She is a woman, therefore may be won.
She's beautiful, and therefore to be woo'd; She is a woman, therefore to be won.
Was ever woman in this humour won?
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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