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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
Key Examples in Our Mutual Friend
Book 1, Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Mephistopheles:
The Veneerings’ matchmaking arrangement raises red flags even before the marriage. Just prior to the Lammles’ wedding ceremony, Dickens introduces a troubling simile and allusion that previews some of the marital troubles to come:
But, hark! A carriage at the gate, and Mortimer’s man arrives, looking rather like a spurious Mephistopheles and an unacknowledged member of that gentleman’s family.
Related Themes:
Book 2, Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Cheesy Money:
Dickens’s simile in Book 2, Chapter 8 offers fresh perspective for his appraisal of the Boffins’ wealth. Our Mutual Friend opens the scene with a glimpse at the newly minted millionaires:
Unlock with LitCharts A+The minion of fortune and the worm of the hour, or in less cutting language, Nicodemus Boffin, Esquire, the Golden Dustman, had become as much at home in his eminently aristocratic family mansion as he was likely ever to be. He could not but feel that, like an eminently aristocratic family cheese, it was much too large for his wants, and bred an infinite amount of parasites; but he was content to regard this drawback on his property as a sort of perpetual Legacy Duty.
Related Themes:
