"Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind; / The thief doth fear each bush an officer."

— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)


Date
w. 1592-3 or 1595?, 1623
Metaphor
"Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind; / The thief doth fear each bush an officer."
Metaphor in Context
RICHARD OF GLOUCESTER
Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind;
The thief doth fear each bush an officer
.

KING HENRY
The bird that hath been limèd in a bush
With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush.
And I, the hapless male to one sweet bird,
Have now the fatal object in my eye
Where my poor young was limed, was caught and killed.
(V.vi.11-7)
Provenance
HDIS; Also cited in Whyte's The Unconscious Before Freud (p. 85)
Citation
Shakespeare, William. The Complete Works. Oxford Shakespeare. Electronic Edition for the IBM PC. Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor, Editor.
Date of Entry
07/31/2003
Date of Review
04/01/2004

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.