Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned

created by lakeid
(idea) by ToasterLeavings (1 wk) (print)   (I like it!) 1 C! Sat Jul 01 2000 at 16:35:22

To provide more information, it may have originated from:

Heaven has no rage, like love to hatred turned,
.....Nor Hell a fury, like a woman scorned.

William Congreve: The Mourning Bride (1697)

A contribution from the salt mines of cut'n'paste:

  • 1697 Congreve Mourning Bride
    Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd, Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd.
  • 1868 J. G. Saxe Poems
    In classic authors we are often warned, There's naught so savage as a `woman scorned'.
  • 1886 M. H. E. Bates Chamber over Gate
    You know `Hell hath no fury', etc. If your wife should ever wake up to the true state of the case..I'm afraid she'd be an ugly customer.
  • 1927 W. Johnston Affair in Duplex 9B?
    The old idea of `the woman scorned' on which Chilton had been relying this time failed utterly.
  • 1932 W. McFee Harbourmaster
    They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
  • 1940 G. H. Coxe Glass Triangle
    If you really want to know who could have wanted to kill him, you might as well start with me... You've heard that one about hell having no fury like a woman scorned? Well, that was me.
  • 1942 N. Marsh Death & Dancing Footman
    He broke out into..merriment calculated..to arouse in Chloris the pangs proper to a woman scorned.
  • 1967 -- Death at Dolphin
    She really does bear out the Woman Scorned crack. She is..not all that charitably disposed at any time.
  • 1971 J. RipleyDavis doesn't live here any More
    The discarded mistress-the `woman scorned'-motive.
  • 1973 I. Murdoch Black Prince
    `Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.' In a way I might have been flattered.
    • (thing) by Gethsemane (4.9 d) (print)   (I like it!) Tue Dec 05 2000 at 11:21:48
    This proverb dates back to Renaissance times, but the sentiments behind it can be traced much further back. For example, in Euripides' play Medea, the title character observes:
    "In all other things a woman is full of fear, incapable of looking on battle or cold steel; but when she is injured in love, no mind is more murderous than hers." 263
    The proverb's origins may be found in The Knight of Malta (c. 1619) by English playwrights Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher:
    "The wages of scorn'd love is baleful hate."I. i.
    The first recorded occurance of the proverb is in Colley Cibber's comedy Love's Last Shift (1696):
    "No fiend in hell can match the fury of a disappointed Woman! - Scorned! slighted; dismissed without a parting Pang!"IV. 71
    The quote from William Congreve's tragedy Mourning Bride (1697) clarified the quote to its current form:
    "Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd, Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd." III. 39
    The Fury in the Congreve quote is a reference to the goddesses of classical mythology who avenged wrong and punished crime.
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