The Man and his Image by Jean de La Fontaine

In “The Man and his Image,” a man so deeply in love with his own beauty believes no one can equal him and avoids every mirror that might show him his face. Fate places mirrors before him everywhere—in parlours, inns, shops, and on ladies’ zones—until he withdraws from human society and hides in a forest glen. There he discovers his reflection in the still water of a pure stream. Though the sight enrages and frightens him, he cannot make himself leave it. The fable explains that this self-loving man represents every human soul. People can recognize their own faults in the follies of others, since all share the same weaknesses. The clear brook stands for the Duke de La Rochefoucauld’s Maxim Book, in which readers may see their own defects reflected.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Moral Allegory, Didactic Poetry · 613 words

First lines

To M. The Duke De La Rochefoucauld.

• Open reader

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Genres

• Fable — The work is a brief allegorical narrative that uses a self-absorbed man and his reflections to convey a clear moral lesson about universal human vanity and self-deception.
• Moral Allegory — The man's avoidance of mirrors represents people's reluctance to recognize their own faults, while the still water symbolizes La Rochefoucauld's moral maxims and reflective self-knowledge.
• Didactic Poetry — Written in verse, the poem explicitly instructs readers about the need to see themselves in the faults of others and examine their own moral failings.
• Satire — La Fontaine humorously mocks narcissism, vanity, fashionable foppishness, and the human tendency to condemn in others the defects one ignores in oneself.

Tags

French fable · seventeenth-century literature · verse narrative · moral allegory · satire of vanity · self-love · narcissism · human folly · self-deception · self-knowledge · moral reflection · mirrors

What this Textopian page supports

The Man and his Image is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1668 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

• Work type: Fable
• Author: Jean de La Fontaine
• Date: 1668 CE
• Language: English
• Genres: Fable, Moral Allegory, Didactic Poetry, Satire, Philosophical Poetry
• Length: 613 words
• Structure: 1 section, 5 paragraphs
• Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)

Good citation fit

• Work identity for The Man and his Image by Jean de La Fontaine
• Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
• Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
• Readability and classroom-planning context
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More by Jean de La Fontaine

• To Monseigneur the Dauphin (1668)
• The Grasshopper and the Ant (1668)
• The Raven and the Fox (1668)
• The Frog that Wished to be as Big as the Ox (1668)
• The Two Mules (1668)
• The Wolf and the Dog (1668)
• The Heifer, the Goat, and the Sheep, in Company with the Lion (1668)
• The Wallet (1668)
• All works by Jean de La Fontaine