Beast with two backs
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Illustration: Fashionable Contrasts (1792) by James Gillray.
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Making the beast with two backs is a euphemistic metaphor for a man and a woman engaged in sexual intercourse. It refers to the situation in which a couple – in the missionary position or standing – cling to each other as if a single creature, with their backs to the outside.
In English, the expression dates back to at least William Shakespeare's Othello (Act 1, Scene 1, ll. 126-127):
- I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs.
The equivalent phrase in "la bete à deux dos"", appears in Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel, circa 1532.
The full passage reads:
- "En son eage virile, espousa Gargamelle, fille du roy des Parpaillos, belle gouge et de bonne troigne, et faisoient eux deux souvent ensemble la beste à deux doz, joyeusement se frotans leur lard, tant qu’elle engroissa d’un beau filz et le porta jusques à l’unziesme moys."
This was translated into English by Thomas Urquhart and published posthumously around 1693:
- In the vigour of his age he married Gargamelle, daughter to the King of the Parpaillons, a jolly pug, and well-mouthed wench. These two did oftentimes do the two-backed beast together, joyfully rubbing and frotting their bacon 'gainst one another.
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Translations
- "... beesten met twee ruggen en hun heksenketels; en dat dat meisje met haar grijze ogen me wel beviel, ook al was ze veel jonger dan ik: ze gaf me een vrolijk ..."--Het periodiek systeem: verhalen van een leven (2015) by Primo Levi
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See also
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