When I first read the quote tattooed on the back of Megan Fox's right shoulder I was very puzzled with the initial reaction of...huh, WTF does "we will all laugh at gilded butterflies" mean? There is definitely a sarcarstic/cynical/bitter-sweet undertone to it, but the meaning still went over my head.
After a little digging I discovered that the quote is from Shakespeare's "King Lear" and put into context it all began to make sense. Thank goodness for Google.
(source: WikiAnswers.com)
The quote is from King Lear who is ruefully pondering his own folly after finding out two of his daughters have betrayed his trust in order to take his fortune. "Gilded butterflies" would generally mean someone overdressed or overly fancy in order to appear more than they are, like a courtier. Lear would be comparing his avaricious daughters to gilded butterflies, appearing to be valuable and beautiful on the outside, but are mere whimsical and insubstantial inside. A further overtone is in one meaning of "gilded", which is "covered in blood", an obvious metaphor for violence or death. Laughing at the above would be a form of derision.
A butterfly is already something of great beauty and functionality. Gilding it - that is, gold-plating it - is an example of human folly, an example of human arrogance in thinking that gilding a butterfly makes it better when in fact, it would destroy both its great natural beauty and its ability to fly. Like applying layers of makeup to an already beautiful woman, obscuring her natural beauty, Lear recognizes the idiocy of this, and thus can refer to laughing at this sort of thing. And of course, the "gilded butterflies" themselves can refer either to his own daughters or others in the court, who, in their natural state may well be beautiful human beings, but now, being "gilded" only look good to those who don't know better, to those who like the artificial beauty of the *appearance* of gold. And gilding also means the butterflies can no longer fly. They can no longer really function. They can only sit there, doing nothing. And, on yet another level of this metaphor, let's not forget that gilding is nothing but a thin gold-leafing, thus making it literally worth almost nothing. A gilded butterfly only looks like solid gold. It is not. And those who know better, like King Lear finally, can laugh at this kind of stupidity.
Although it can't be seen in the picture above, there is a Chinese character for "strength" tattooed on her neck. Does that mean she'll be needing the strength to withstand all the mockery?
Megan Fox is also a huge fan of Marilyn Monroe and has a tattoo of Monroe's face tattooed on her inner right forearm. When asked "Why Marilyn and is it permanent?" in a 2007 interview, Megan Fox replied: "Yeah, it’s definitely permanent. What a douche bag I’d be if I had like a temporary tattoo. It’s a real tattoo and I just had an incredible amount empathy for her my whole life. I cry when I see her on camera, when I hear her voice. I know a lot about her but I empathized with her before I knew any of those things so that’s why I was driven to actually ink it on my arm. It was between her and Kurt Cobain and I went with her."