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Literary Devices
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Act 1
Explanation and Analysis—Don Quixote:
In the following passage from Act 1, Bluntschli reveals to Raina that her betrothed behaved in a naive and silly manner on the battlefield; Sergius, it turns out, is not the brave hero Raina envisioned. In his description of Sergius's actions during the battle, Bluntschli alludes to Miguel de Cervantes's epic novel Don Quixote (published 1605/1615):
MAN: He did it like an operatic tenor—a regular handsome fellow, with flashing eyes and lovely moustache, shouting a war-cry and charging like Don Quixote at the windmills. We nearly burst with laughter at him; but when the sergeant ran up as white as a sheet, and told us they’d sent us the wrong cartridges, and that we couldn’t fire a shot for the next ten minutes, we laughed at the other side of our mouths.
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Act 2
Explanation and Analysis—Childe Harold:
In the following set of stage directions from Act 2, Shaw describes Sergius using an allusion to "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," a long narrative poem published between 1812 and 1818 by Lord Byron:
Unlock with LitCharts A+He has acquired the half tragic, half ironic air, the mysterious moodiness, the suggestion of a strange and terrible history that has left him nothing but undying remorse, by which Childe Harold fascinated the grandmothers of his English contemporaries. Altogether it is clear that here or nowhere is Raina’s ideal hero.
Related Themes:
