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Definition of Simile
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like" or "as," but can also... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often... read full definition
Key Examples in An Ideal Husband
Act 1, Part 3
Explanation and Analysis—The Seven Deadly Virtues:
In Act 1, Part 3, Mrs. Cheveley blackmails Sir Robert Chiltern into supporting the Argentine canal scheme. When Chiltern protests, Cheveley laments what she feels to be a useless preoccupation with morality in London society using simile and an ironic allusion to the seven deadly sins:
Nowadays, with our modern mania for morality, everyone has to pose as a paragon of purity, incorruptibility, and all the other seven deadly virtues—and what is the result? You all go over like ninepins—one after the other. Not a year passes in England without somebody disappearing. Scandals used to lend charm, or at least interest, to a man—now they crush him.
Related Themes:
Act 2, Part 1
Explanation and Analysis—Fear, On Ice:
In Act 2, Part 1, Sir Robert Chiltern and Lord Arthur Goring discuss Robert’s predicament—Mrs. Cheveley’s blackmail, and her revelation of Robert’s past mistakes to his wife. As Robert shares his fears to his friend, he uses a set of similes to articulate their severity:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Arthur, I feel that public disgrace is in store for me. I feel certain of it. I never knew what terror was before. I know it now. It is as if a hand of ice were laid upon one’s heart. It is as if one’s heart were beating itself to death in some empty hollow.
Related Themes:
