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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
Act 2, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Like Players:
Mortimer uses a simile that compares King Edward II and his personal army to “players” or actors. After his uncle, Mortimer Senior, has been captured by Scottish forces while in service of the King, Mortimer Junior arrives in court to persuade the King to pay off his uncle’s ransom. When the King declines to pay the ransom, Mortimer openly criticizes the King, mocking his lack of martial prowess and experience in war and using a simile in the process:
When wert thou in the field with banner spread?
But once, and then thy soldiers marched like players,
With garish robes, not armour; and thyself,
Bedaubed with gold, rode laughing at the rest,
Nodding and shaking of thy spangled crest,
Where women’s favours hung like labels down.
Act 2, Scene 5
Explanation and Analysis—The Greekish Strumpet :
Lancaster alludes to the mythological figure of Helen of Troy in his condemnation of Piers Gaveston. In Scene 9, Gaveston and the King separate after facing an overwhelming assault from the combined forces of the various rebelling lords, and Gaveston is captured while attempting to flee. The lords are now able to speak with Gaveston without censorship, and they criticize him in harsh terms. Lancaster states:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Monster of men,
That, like the Greekish strumpet, trained to arms
And bloody wars so many valiant knights,
Look for no other fortune, wretch, than death.
Kind Edward is not here to buckler thee.
Related Themes:
