Meaning & Analysis
Women present themselves as pious in church, virtuous in public, but are malicious and difficult in the privacy of their own home.
Insights
Social Performance and Deception
The proverb is a cynical commentary on social performance, suggesting that the virtuous personas women adopt in public are a deceptive facade designed to win social approval, masking a 'true' and more troublesome nature revealed only in private.
Public vs. Private Self
It explores the stark dichotomy between a person's public image and their private reality. The 'saint' and 'angel' are carefully constructed public-facing identities, while the 'devil' represents the uninhibited, and in this case demonized, self that emerges behind closed doors.
Misogynistic Warning
Fundamentally, the proverb functions as a misogynistic tool, warning men that a woman's pleasing exterior inevitably conceals a malicious or chaotic inner nature that will manifest within the confines of marriage and domesticity.
Historical Patriarchy
This proverb reflects deep-seated patriarchal anxieties of early modern Europe, a period of intense scrutiny over female conduct. It articulates a male fear that the idealized, publicly virtuous woman—pious and demure—was merely a facade concealing a subversive and chaotic nature within the domestic sphere, a space she controlled.
Literary Resonance
Shakespeare's variation in 'Othello'—'You are pictures out of doors, Bells in your parlours, wildcats in your kitchens'—demonstrates the proverb's cultural currency. Iago uses this trope to generalize and poison Othello's perception of Desdemona, illustrating how such 'folk wisdom' could be weaponized to foster misogynistic distrust.
Psychology of Stereotyping
The proverb reveals a psychological impulse to categorize and control women by reducing their complex identities to a simplistic, negative formula. This cognitive shortcut reinforces cultural biases, making female behavior seem predictable and justifying patriarchal authority, particularly within the home.
Rhetorical Devices
Antithesis
The proverb's power lies in the stark juxtaposition of divine imagery ('saints', 'angels') with the demonic ('devils'), creating a memorable and dramatic rhetorical impact.
Tricolon
The three-part parallel structure ('in church saints, abroad angels, at home devils') creates a rhythmic, balanced cadence that enhances its memorability and makes it easy to recite.
Hyperbole
The absolute terms 'saints' and 'devils' are hyperbolic exaggerations used to create a powerful, albeit stereotypical, statement about the perceived extremes of female nature.
Transcription
Quotations
As holy as Saints in Church they be, And in street, as Angels they were, At home, for all their hipocrisie. A Deuilish life they lede all the yeer.
A woman is a furye and an hurtfull Spyrite in the howse, an angell in the Churche, an ape in the bedd, a mule vnbrideled in the ffelde, and a gote in the garden.
At home lyke dyuelles they be, abrode lyke aungelles pure.
We limit the comely parts of a woman to consist in foure points, that is to be a shrewe in the kitchin, a saint in the Church, an Angell at the bourd, and an Ape in the bed, as the Chronicle reportes by Mistresse Shore paramour to king Edward the fourth.
Women are in churches, Saints: abroad, Angels: at home, deuills: at windowes, Syrens: at doores, pyes; and in gardens, Goates.
The comelie partes of a Woman doe consiste in foure poyntes, that is, to bee a Shrewe in the Kitchin, a Saynt in the Church, an Angell at the bourde, and an Ape in bed.
[Women] be saints in the church, angels in the street, devils in the kitchen, and apes in your bed.
Marry none of them. Women are in Churches Saints, abroad Angels, at home Diuels.
Some women are in Churches Saints or more, Angels abroad, at home too like the Devill, At windowes Syrens, Parrots at the dore; And in their gardens Goates, or more unciuill.
The Italian women are Saints in the Church, Angels in the street, Devils in the house, Sirens at the windows, Magpyes at the door, and Goats in the Garden.
Shakespeare Citations
You are pictures out of doors, Bells in your parlours, wildcats in your kitchens, Saints in your injuries, devils being offended, Players in your housewifery, and housewives in your beds.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
Used under CC BY-NC 3.0.