Previous
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
Act 1, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Eyes and Meteors :
In the opening scene of the play, King Henry IV gives a speech to a group of nobles in court, promising to put an end to the violence that marked his transition to the throne. In his speech, he uses a metaphor that imagines the two parties of the recent civil war as eyes on a face, and a simile that further describes the metaphorical eyes as meteors:
Those opposèd eyes,
Which, like the meteors of a troubled heaven,
All of one nature, of one substance bred,
Did lately meet in the intestine shock
And furious close of civil butchery,
Shall now, in mutual well-beseeming ranks,
March all one way and be no more opposed
Against acquaintance, kindred, and allies.
Related Themes:
Act 1, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—The Messenger :
In court, King Henry IV summons Hotspur and questions him harshly over his actions following a recent battle in Scotland. Hotspur, who has disobeyed the King’s orders to turn over his prisoners to the crown, defends his actions in a speech that compares the King’s messenger to a parrot and to a gentlewoman in a metaphor and simile, respectively:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I then, all smarting with my wounds being cold,
To be so pestered with a popinjay,
Out of my grief and my impatience
Answered neglectingly I know not what—
He should, or he should not; for he made me mad
To see him shine so brisk and smell so sweet
And talk so like a waiting-gentlewoman
Of guns, and drums, and wounds—God save the
Mark!
Related Themes:
