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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 Death on the Nile
Chapter One
Explanation and Analysis—Her Golden Car:
In Chapter 1, Joanna describes Linnet's self-assurance, wealth, and beauty with a metaphor:
“Linnet Ridgeway, can you look me in the face and tell me of any one occasion on which you’ve failed to do exactly as you wanted?”
“Heaps of times.”
“Oh, yes, ‘heaps of times’—just like that—but no concrete example. And you simply can’t think up one, darling, however hard you try! The triumphal progress of Linnet Ridgeway in her golden car. […] In the meantime, enjoy the triumphal progress in the golden car. Only I wonder, I really do wonder, what will happen when you want to go down a street which has a board saying ‘No Thoroughfare.’”
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Chapter Four
Explanation and Analysis—Rich Man, Poor Man:
In Chapter 4, Poirot chastises Linnet for taking Simon from Jackie. He alludes to a biblical story to illustrate how he understands Linnet's actions.
Unlock with LitCharts A+You have heard of King David and of the rich man who had many flocks and herds and the poor man who had one ewe lamb—and of how the rich man took the poor man’s one ewe lamb. That was something that happened, Madame.
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Chapter Five
Explanation and Analysis—The Moon and the Sun:
In Chapter 5, Jackie uses a metaphor to describe why Simon left her for Linnet:
Unlock with LitCharts A+There’s such a thing as glamour, Monsieur Poirot. And money helps that. Linnet had an ‘atmosphere,’ you see. She was the queen of a kingdom—the young princess—luxurious to her fingertips. […] Look at the moon up there. You see her very plainly, don’t you? She’s very real. But if the sun were to shine you wouldn’t be able to see her at all. It was rather like that. I was the moon . . . When the sun came out, Simon couldn’t see me anymore . . . He was dazzled. He couldn’t see anything but the sun—Linnet.
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Chapter Six
Explanation and Analysis—The Moon and the Sun:
In Chapter 5, Jackie uses a metaphor to describe why Simon left her for Linnet:
Unlock with LitCharts A+There’s such a thing as glamour, Monsieur Poirot. And money helps that. Linnet had an ‘atmosphere,’ you see. She was the queen of a kingdom—the young princess—luxurious to her fingertips. […] Look at the moon up there. You see her very plainly, don’t you? She’s very real. But if the sun were to shine you wouldn’t be able to see her at all. It was rather like that. I was the moon . . . When the sun came out, Simon couldn’t see me anymore . . . He was dazzled. He couldn’t see anything but the sun—Linnet.
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Chapter Fifteen
Explanation and Analysis—Pennington's Plan:
In Chapter 15, Poirot uses metaphors to describe a possible motive that might have led Pennington to kill Linnet:
Unlock with LitCharts A+If Linnet Doyle were to die, her fortune would pass to her husband—and he would be easy to deal with; he would be a child in the hands of an astute man like Andrew Pennington. Mon cher Colonel, I tell you I saw the thought pass through Andrew Pennington’s head. ‘If only it were Doyle I had got to deal with . . .’ That is what he was thinking.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Explanation and Analysis—Delighted:
In Chapter 25, Poirot asks Pennington to come in for an interview after Mrs Otterbourne's murder. In his reluctant agreement, Pennington employs verbal irony:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"Will you come to my cabin in half an hour’s time?”
“I should be delighted.” Pennington did not sound delighted. He did not look delighted either. Race and Poirot exchanged glances and then abruptly left the room.
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Chapter Twenty-Seven
Explanation and Analysis—Delighted:
In Chapter 25, Poirot asks Pennington to come in for an interview after Mrs Otterbourne's murder. In his reluctant agreement, Pennington employs verbal irony:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"Will you come to my cabin in half an hour’s time?”
“I should be delighted.” Pennington did not sound delighted. He did not look delighted either. Race and Poirot exchanged glances and then abruptly left the room.
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Chapter Twenty-Eight
Explanation and Analysis—Naked Shining Truth:
In Chapter 28, Colonel Race complains to Poirot that the famous detective is "beating around the bush" by solving the mystery of the missing pearls instead of focusing on the three murders. Poirot explains his thought process to Race with a metaphor that is also an allusion to an earlier Agatha Christie novel:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Once I went professionally to an archæological expedition—and I learnt something there. In the course of an excavation, when something comes up out of the ground, everything is cleared away very carefully all around it. You take away the loose earth, and you scrape here and there with a knife until finally your object is there, all alone, ready to be drawn and photographed with no extraneous matter confusing it. That is what I have been seeking to do—clear away the extraneous matter so that we can see the truth—the naked shining truth.
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