Mythical Egyptian Monster + Symbolism + Art History = Shakespeare
Updated: Aug 14, 2022
In honor of World Animal Day, we’ll explore Shakespeare’s references to dogs, lions, & wolves. What did they symbolize? How can this knowledge shape our interpretations of his plays? What do the ancient Egyptians have to do with this? Oh! And did I mention Petrarch’s in this one?
Let’s jump right in!
Basic Symbolism
The following animal symbolism guide is true throughout most of Shakespeare’s texts.
Dog = the fawner & flatterer
Lion = nobility, strength, ferocity
Wolf = has an “appetite”; also suggests Catholicism (ex. Henry VI)
Nighttime… There’s More to the Symbolism
Interestingly, symbolism doesn’t have to be confined to simple equal signs. There can be context attached as well! In the case of these three animals, that context is the night. This can easily be concluded by examining their unusually high number of appearances in nighttime narratives. Other nocturnal predatory creatures do not show up in such descriptions nearly as often.
Here’s the catch: Even though writers traditionally used the three animals in night descriptions for their predatory nature, Shakespeare rarely used them in his night chronicles to present a severe threat to humans. Basically, yes, they were predators but... they served a much higher purpose!
Before we continue, there’s one more thing you should know:
“In Elizabethan literature, descriptions of nighttime are most often formal pieces belonging to the rhetorical type chronographia, description of time. Chronographia, as one form of descriptio, is a delineation of a particular time (day or season) through the use of many apt and vivid details and events, the sum of which is meant to comprise the time being described.” (1)
Ok! Let’s move along!
Italian Art History + Ancient Egyptian God
Looking for more evidence that these animals were associated with time? Let us persuade you :)
In 1926, esteemed art historian Erwin Panofsky and his colleague, Fritz Saxl, theorized the meaning behind Titian’s The Allegory of Prudence (c. 1565.) The painting (pictured below) depicts a young man & a dog on the right, a middle-aged man & a lion in the middle, and an old man & a wolf on the left.
The Allegory of Prudence - Painting by Titian
Panofsky claimed, “the human heads represent the 'tripartition of Prudence', understood in the Middle Ages and Renaissance to be a composite of memory, intelligence, and foresight, often associated with time, that is, with past, present, and future.”
NOTE: If you wish to read Richard Linche’s 16th-century description of the creature and its significance, you can find it below the Discussion section.
Panofsky drew a connection between this painting and a mythological creature: According to tradition, Serapis (a prominent god of Hellenistic Egypt) was typically accompanied by a three-headed monster (dog, lion, and wolf.) (For those of you who are staring at that windy thing encircling the beast - yes, that’s a snake.) Look at the painting and then at the Egyptian creature below. On a scale of 1-10, how similar do they seem? Panofsky thought they were pretty close...
Since no one knows how the ancient Egyptians interpreted this monster, one can only guess. In AD 400, a Roman named Macrobius took on the challenge and was so proud of his hypothesis that he published it so people like us could admire his talent centuries later. He deciphered this strange creature to be 'time', with the wolf representing the past, the lion the present, and the dog the future.
As interesting as Macrobius’s theory was, his fans soon forgot about it for… a while. That is until, as Panofsky put it, “the three-headed animal described by Macrobius re-entered upon the stage of Western literature and imagery.”
Skip a few years to 1338, when Petrarch jumps on the long-forgotten bandwagon and sides with Macrobius. Though Petrarch agrees the animals represent time, his view differs slightly as he associates the monster with Apollo rather than Serapis.
Yeah, we know, really exciting. All in all, not much changed. EXCEPT the theory was now back on people’s minds. Writers eagerly employed the juicy symbolism. And Shakespeare, of course, was one of them :)
Back to Night
Let’s quickly refresh ourselves before moving on. Shakespeare and other Renaissance writers used these animals in descriptions of the night, specifically ones that included death or at least its possibility. Thus, one might be inclined to view time as a destructive force, one that “moves man inexorably toward age and death.” (1) Very, very spooky.
Example from Shakespeare (Macbeth!)
Macbeth is set at night. Why? Murder is afoot... lots of it! As Macbeth is (rightfully) blamed for so many deaths, he is juxtaposed with the wolf in the following chronographia:
Now o'er the one half-world
Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse
The curtain'd sleep; now witchcraft celebrates
Pale Hecate's offerings; and wither'd murder,
Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf,
Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace,
With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design
Moves like a ghost. (II.I)
Nature seems dead because it is asleep. “Wither’d murder” is used as a personification, asking the reader to imagine the murder as an old man. The wolf’s howls and advances toward its victim awaken the murder. Put that all together: Night comes with murder… or murder comes with night.
The audience will watch this description “come to life” when Macbeth walks toward Duncan.
Shall we dig deeper?
This tale is witnessed again when Macbeth tells his wife - in a chronographia, of course - that another man will die:
Light thickens, and the crow
Makes wing to th' rooky wood;
Good things of day begin to droop and drowse,
Whiles night's black agents to their preys do rouse. (III.II)
“Four lines earlier Macbeth had called, 'come, seeling night'; the night obeys his command and in so doing symbolizes the death of Banquo. The moral significance of Banquo's death is made vivid for us in the description of the time change. The chronographia reveals the inevitability of Banquo's death, a death caused by Macbeth as he himself becomes darker; light is extinguished and the world is left in darkness.” (1)
Murderous Macbeth believes himself to be the most destructive black agent of the night. But how exactly did Shakespeare want us to think about this animal imagery?
In terms of predatory use, Macbeth is associated with the wolf, so “night’s black agents” include his “wolf nature” and other nocturnal animals who serve as predators of men for Time.
Regarding the wolf as a symbol of time itself: “Macbeth is murder, and it is the wolf, whose howl is murder's 'watch' (murder's clock, Macbeth's clock), who announces the time. The wolf here is precisely that creature which the Renaissance made of the Serapis monster and which we can see in Titian's 'Allegory'. The wolf is in the description not because he is a predator, but rather because he is time; he sounds the hour of the night when the time process will end life.” (1)
Discussion
We've seen that the dog, lion, and wolf are predators. But more importantly, they represent time. And the ancient Egyptians likely influenced Italian art. And Italian art inspired a guy to share his assumptions with the world. And that juicy symbolism won the hearts of countless Renaissance writers. And Shakespeare was one of them. And having this insight could add layers to your acting or watching. And the end.
QUESTION: Where else in Shakespeare’s canon do you notice him using animal imagery in this way? (Note: If you need help finding passages, let us know in the comments and we’d be happy to help!) Happy searching!
Written by Mariela Rivero
Edited by Laura Yumi Snell
Richard Linche:
“Martianus [Capella] sayth, That the nuptials of Mercurie and Philologia, when she had searched and perviewed each corner of the higher and lower heavens, shee found Saturne sitting with great solitude in an extream cold mansion all frozen & covered with yse and snow, wearing on his head a helmet, on which was lively depictured three heads, the one of a Serpent, the other of a Lyon, and the third of a Boare: which three by many constructions may signifie the effect of Time, but in that it is by the Authors themselves, but sleightly approved, we will wade no further in it. And yet Macrobius toucheth it very neerely, when hee describes him with a Lyons head, a Dogs head, and a Wolfes head: intending by the Lyons head the time present, which duly placed betweene that past and that to come, prevaileth most, and is of greatest force; or discovering thereby the stormie troubles of mans life, by the rough, unpleasing, and grim aspect of the Lyon: by that of the Dog, is meant the present [sic] time, who alwaies fawnes on us, and by whose alluring delights we are drawne unto vaine and uncertain hopes: The Wolves head signifies the time past, by his greedie devouring what ere he finds, leaving no memorie behind of what hee catcheth within his clawes.”
Quoted References:
Lewis, Anthony. The Dog, Lion, and Wolf in Shakespeare's Descriptions of Night.
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth.
#ElizabethanHistory #Macbeth #Duncan #symbol #symbolism #arthistory #animal