History Main / CuckoldHorns

Symbolic horns are used as a visual shorthand to indicate a man whose wife cheats on him. This may involve allusions to horned animals such as bulls and stags. The symbolism is more rarely applied to women whose partners are unfaithful.

* The short story ''My Private Memoirs of the Hoffer Stigmata Pandemic,'' in which a pandemic makes people's sins externally manifest in the form of various facial deformations, has a variant; fleshy blood-horns represent adultery, but they appear on the adulterer, not the cuckold.

The husband is amazed. He writes to his mum about that. Soon after, he receives a reply:

** The husband is amazed. He writes to his mum about that. Soon after, he receives a reply:

** In ''Theatre/TroilusAndCressida'', Troilus jokes in the opening scene that Menelaus (whose wife is living with Paris) has only wounded Paris with his horns, and Thersites later cheers on the duel between "the cuckold and the cuckold-maker" as a fight between a bull and a dog.

** In ''Theatre/TroilusAndCressida'', Troilus jokes in the opening scene that Menelaus (whose wife is living with Paris) has only wounded Paris with his horns, and Thersites later cheers on the duel between "the cuckold and the cuckold-maker" as a bullfight.

** In ''Theatre/TroilusAndCressida'', Troilus jokes in the opening scene that Menelaus (whose wife is living with Paris) has only wounded Paris with his horns, and later cheers on their duel as a bullfight.

Symbolic horns as a visual shorthand to indicate a man whose wife cheats on him. More rarely applied to women whose partners are unfaithful.

** In ''Theatre/TroilusAndCressida'', Troilus jokes in the opening scene that Menelaus (whose wife is living with Paris) has only wounded Paris with his horns, which are referred to a couple more times in the play.

* The short story ''My Private Memoirs of the Hoffer Stigmata Pandemic,'' in which a pandemic makes people's sins externally manifest in the form of various facial deformations, has a variant; Fleshy blood-horns represent adultery, but they appear on the adulterer, not the cuckold.

!!Examples

!!Examples:

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* In the first episode of ''Anime/AdventuresOfMiniGoddess'', this is used as a joke: Urd is trying to help a small rat get a wife, and sets him up with an appliance of some kind. However, the appliance says that she was in love with another kitchen appliance, and the two run off together, leaving the rat standing by himself, with the shadow of a cow and horns extending from his body.

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While in English-speaking countries this has been a practically ForgottenTrope for over a century, it still thrives in European countries where the word for cuckold literally means "horned", the Italian word "cornuto" being perhaps the most widely recognized example.

See also BunnyEarsPicturePrank, HornedHumanoid, WardingGestures, {{Cuckold}}.

See also BunnyEarsPicturePrank, HornedHumanoid, WardingGestures.

* Oberon had these in the ''{{Sandman}}'' story which riffed on AMidsummerNightsDream, because his wife Titania was cheating on him.

See also HornedHumanoid.

* In Max Shulman's novel ''Rally Round the Flag, Boys!'', Harry Bannerman, who feels guilty about his affair with his boss's wife, at one especially nervous moment imagines twelve-foot horns protruding from his boss's forehead.

Symbolic horns as a visual shorthand to indicate a man whose wife cheats on him.

Symbolic horns as a visual shorthand to indicate a man whose wife cheats on him.

Symbolic horns as a visual shorthand to indicate a man whose wife cheats on him.

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* In the first episode of ''Anime/AdventuresOfMiniGoddess'', this is used as a joke: Urd is trying to help a small rat get a wife, and sets him up with an appliance of some kind. However, the appliance says that she was in love with another kitchen appliance, and the two run off together, leaving the rat standing by himself, with the shadow of a cow and horns extending from his body.

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* Mentioned in ''Letters To His Son''; from letter CLXXXVI: "A prudent cuckold (and there are many such at Paris) pockets his horns when he cannot gore with them; and will not add to the triumph of his maker by only butting with them ineffectually."

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Also note that the common word for cuckold in several European languages literally means "horned"; the Italian word "cornuto" is one example.

* This was a favorite symbolism of Creator/WilliamShakespeare. In ''Theatre/TheMerryWivesOfWindsor'', when Ford, disguised as Master Brook, encourages Falstaff to go after his wife, Falstaff boasts that he will put the cuckold's horns on Ford and later mockingly describes him as a "peaking cornuto." Ford vows revenge on him: "If I have horns to make one mad, let the proverb go with me--I'll be horn mad." The wives con Falstaff into meeting them in Windsor Forest disguised as Herne the Hunter, the HornedHumanoid of myth. When Falstaff has been properly humiliated in his horned disguise, Ford points to the horns and tells him, "Now, sir, who's a cuckold now?"