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Irony
Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Key Examples in As You Like It
Act 1, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Like an Ox:
Orlando bemoans his life at home with Oliver, metaphorically comparing his condition to an ox’s.
For my part, he
keeps me rustically at home, or, to speak more
properly, stays me here at home unkept; for call you
that “keeping,” for a gentleman of my birth, that
differs not from the stalling of an ox? His horses are
bred better, for, besides that they are fair with their
feeding, they are taught their manage, and to that
end, riders dearly hired.
Related Themes:
Act 2, Scene 7
Explanation and Analysis—All the World's a Stage:
When Duke Senior comments, in Act 2, Scene 7, that they are not the only unhappy people on Earth (“This wide and universal theater / Presents more woeful pageants than the scene / Wherein we play in”), Jaques agrees and picks up the metaphor:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Jaques: All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.
Related Themes:
