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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
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Vampire's Bite:
Instead of describing Carmilla biting Laura in literal terms, the novella uses a metaphor. Laura first describes the sensation in Chapter 1, during the strange dream she has of the young girl who turns out to be Carmilla:
I was awakened by a sensation as if two needles ran into my breast very deep at the same moment, and cried loudly. The lady started back, with her eyes fixed on me, and then slipped down upon the floor, and as I thought, hid herself under the bed.
Related Themes:
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Girls Are Caterpillars:
In Chapter 4, after Carmilla and Laura discuss Carmilla's illness, Carmilla uses a metaphor to make the unlikely comparison of girls to caterpillars:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Girls are caterpillars while they live in the world, to be finally butterflies when the summer comes; but in the meantime there are grubs and larvae, don't you see—each with their peculiar propensities, necessities and structure.
Related Themes:
Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Vampire's Bite:
Instead of describing Carmilla biting Laura in literal terms, the novella uses a metaphor. Laura first describes the sensation in Chapter 1, during the strange dream she has of the young girl who turns out to be Carmilla:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I was awakened by a sensation as if two needles ran into my breast very deep at the same moment, and cried loudly. The lady started back, with her eyes fixed on me, and then slipped down upon the floor, and as I thought, hid herself under the bed.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Dreams:
An instance of metaphor occurs in Chapter 6 when Laura describes the nature of her dreams. Frightened, Laura "adopt[s] Carmilla's habit of locking her bedroom door," but this action doesn't prevent her from having frightening dreams:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Thus fortified I might take my rest in peace. But dreams come through stone walls, light up dark rooms, or darken light ones, and their persons make their exits and their entrances as they please, and laugh at locksmiths.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Memory Like Divers:
In Carmilla, the titular character is evasive despite Laura's efforts to find out about her past. In Chapter 6, Carmilla uses a simile to compare the effort of remembering her first ball to divers as they navigate through water:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I remember everything about it—with an effort. I see it all, as divers see what is going on above them, through a medium, dense, rippling, but transparent. There occurred that night what has confused the picture, and made its colours faint.
