An analogy similar to Trojan Horse that describes letting in an attractive enemy?

wolf in sheep’s clothing ? or is that about as subtle as trojan horse ?

The only term that springs to my mind is poisoned chalice. Something that appears good but turns out to be bad. Hey, I tried!

The Dark Side of the Force?

The Sirens? Probably not what you looking for but I get it. It’s kind right on the tip of my brain too, just can’t get at it.

Satan and his many masks, tempting you?

Oh, these are all good! I put “wolf in sheep’s clothing” in my tags, but that’s not quite it. I’d like to get as close a parallel as I can: it wasn’t meant to be deceptive—didn’t start out as a bad thing—but as it grew and revealed its true nature, it turned out to have a major hidden cost.

Cigarette smoking, for instance, was pleasurable and popular long before it was known to cause cancer, and by then it was too strong a habit for many people to kick. Yes, of course some have—that’s not the point. The point is that it was not intentionally evil, and it was well embedded before its evil face was revealed.

Imagine that cigarette smoking also offered a significant benefit to society: suppose it really did keep weight off and lift your mood, and suppose it also enhanced community feeling among fellow smokers. How hard it would be to make people want to quit! That wouldn’t be a Trojan Horse, exactly, nor a predatory wolf. It would be more like a . . . what?

(Again, please, this isn’t a discussion about smoking. It’s an example.)

As soon as I read your description, my mind went to the insect world. I think it is the spider and the fly (said the spider to the fly) that popped in first. Then I thought of pitcher plants and venus fly-traps and those creatures that lure one in for sex or more (sirens, certain insects that eat their partners after congress, etc). For some reason, there is some insect example that I just can’t quite bring to the surface . . .

@Jeruba I think possibly some of the legends about treasure have that built in, possibly the Treasure of El Dorado? I know in Pirates of the Caribbean, they take the gold coins, thinking it’s just treasure, but then it turns out it’s cursed and keeps them in an undead state.

Or maybe the Fountain of Youth?

silver tongued devil?

There is also the notion of a gift (e.g., blankets) that ultimately spread smallpox to the Native Americans who had no immunity thereto.

You actually mentioned “Devil’s Bargain” and I think that idea sums up what you have described nicely. There are many examples of such bargains (post Faust) in world history.

A duplicitous foe
A sting in the tail

Insect traps are good—but imprecise because the trap doesn’t invade the insect. Same problem with the Sirens: they lure the sailors in rather than invading the ship. Cursed treasure: that’s good. Thinking about it. Smallpox-infested blankets are a great analog, but, I’m afraid, too fraught with their own weight to do for an analogy in an apolitical context.

Faust knew the terms of the deal. He just didn’t want to pay when the time came. He wasn’t an unwitting dupe of something that looked too good to be true.

I know an analogy is just an analogy, but I need this one to help make my point, so it has to ring true with the essence of the relationship. Thanks for helping me think.

The phrase I have heard before is holding a serpent to your breast.

There is succubus or incubus.

To cherish a serpent in your breast—that’s the way I find it in several poetic references: Dante, Shakespeare. Good, @crisw. That one might do it. But more ideas are still welcome. This is helping.

One that comes to mind is Grendel’s mother in Beowulf. She is a “sexy” temptress and I think it’s after Beowulf kills Grendel, that she seduces Beowulf and then tries to kill him to get revenge.
I don’t know if that’s what you’re looking for, but I gave it a shot.

The latent threat within our midst….oh i’m just reaching now.

Marriage

Samson and Delilah

A deal with the devil?

This also reminded me of invasive plants like kudzu in the southeast US. It probably seemed innocuous at first.

@optimisticpessimist Or mint, which we cherish so much and is a great plant, but can spread like wildfire and ruin other good things.

How about something that first nurtures and then destroys? Not as a strategy, like the witch feeding Hansel because she’s going to cook and eat him, but more like something that is good in some measure and bad when it grows too big and strong. I know this is the moral to any number of allegories and cautionary tales I’ve seen or read—“it makes a good servant but a terrible master”—but what? what are they?

@Jeruba How about mothers nursing? At first, it’s a wonderful thing, it feeds the baby, gives it an immune system, and protects it for several years. But if you’re still nursing your 30 year old “child”, they’ve probably failed to grow into a functional adult.

Well, money is supposed to make a good servant but a terrible master. I do know what you are talking about because I have this little tingle in the back of my brain, but it is not popping into any real thought yet.

Honey trap. That’s the expression that I think best fits your description. A sweetly-baited, attractive and inescapable trap. Which is also deadly.

Insidious is a word I think describes what you are talking about.

Honey Trap makes me think sex.

@JLeslie Ah, but I think it’s actually perfect (for some time periods’ views on sex). You need sex to procreate, continue the human race and the family name, but at the same time, it is committing an unclean act that is inherently sinful.

Still not quite, @WasCy, but thanks for your efforts. A honey trap or honey pot does not invade the victim. It lures the victim in, like a Venus flytrap, like the Sirens. I need something that moves in benignly and then takes over, showing its true face when it’s too late. Like a Trojan Horse, but not quite.

I’m not trying to invent an analogy. I’m trying to remember one that I feel sure is there, embodied in some proverb or fable or cliche that we already know.

@Jeruba Perhaps a stem-cell introduction, originally trying to regrow a body part, but then becomes malignant? I know there is some analogy, there just has to be, the idea is too ingrained into our society for there not to be.

Your persistence and inventiveness are impressive, @MyNewtBoobs, and I thank you, but I am trying to come up with an image that is already a familiar concept in the culture, like the Trojan Horse, and not introduce an original analogy.

It’s for the sake of economy—evoked by a word or phrase and not requiring any explanation—as well as the implicit authority of generally accepted wisdom.

Then how about electing Mussolini and Hitler because they promise to get the trains to run on time and restore national pride? Or closer to home (and time), electing Nixon because he promises “Law and Order”.

I get what you’re looking for, though. It seems like there’s some kind of Shakespearean metaphor here that’s just over my mental horizon.

I have spent the evening thinking about this and several thoughts came to mind (most were thoughts of wishing for something and getting too much of a good thing—e.g., rain).

But then I started thinking about the alcoholic . . . many people enjoy an occasional libation yet for some, it starts out looking like any other person having a beverage, but it changes. The statement is often used (regarding alcoholics and drink) “where one is one too many and a thousand is never enough.” I think alcoholism is far enough out of the cultural closet that the image of drink (or drugs) leading to ruin (without being puritanical) is widespread. When one has his/her first drink, you have no idea if you will be one who can enjoy it in moderation or can’t control it at all.

Won’t you come into my parlor said the spider to the fly,
It’s the prettiest little parlor you ever did spy >:-D

Well maybe not exactly an accurate response but that’s what came to mind.

Also- Shakespeare’s
“To beguile the time, look like the time
Bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your tongue
Look like the innocent flower
But be the serpent under’t.”

Your idea, @XOIIO, is really close to the mark! So’s yours, @Kayak8. I wish they were suitable for the context in which I need to use this allusion. I might be able to get away with the STD analogy, actually, if I handle it carefully enough.

But I’m still certain that the image or saying is already there, if ony I can recall it.

Your fifth paragraph sounds almost like possession. Selling your soul? Demonic possession?

All that glitters is not gold? I’m sure this isn’t it, but I feel compelled to answer something.

Here is a website that might help you find the one you’re looking for.

Brown acid :)

Like candy?

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Ok, I think I’ll retire this question now and reframe it here. Please help me think instead of contemporary film and fiction that illustrate the theme of having an unwelcome bill come due for advantages you’ve already enjoyed.

Thanks to everyone for trying to help me jump-start some idle brain cells.

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