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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
Act 1
Explanation and Analysis—The Curse:
In the following passage from Act 1, the Phantasm repeats Prometheus's curse against Jupiter back to him, in his own words. Using metaphor as a vessel, Prometheus describes the comeuppance that his foe will receive:
I curse thee! let a sufferer’s curse
Clasp thee, his torturer, like remorse
Till thine Infinity shall be
A robe of envenomed agony;
And thine Omnipotence a crown of pain,
To cling like burning gold round thy dissolving brain.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Gaia's Hate:
In the following passage from Act 1, Mother Earth describes her anger at Jupiter on behalf of her son. She levels a curse of her own against Jupiter, describing her hatred using metaphor:
Unlock with LitCharts A+And the thin air, my breath, was stained
With the contagion of a mother’s hate
Breathed on her child’s destroyer—aye, I heard
Thy curse, the which, if thou rememberest not,
Yet my innumerable seas and streams,
Mountains, and caves, and winds, and yon wide air,
And the inarticulate people of the dead,
Preserve, a treasured spell.
Explanation and Analysis—Empire:
The following metaphor and surrounding passage, taken from Prometheus's initial monologue at the beginning of Act 1, appropriately encompass the resentment and frustration Prometheus feels towards Jupiter, ruler of the gods:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Scorn and despair,—these are mine empire.
More glorious far than that which thou surveyest
From thine unenvied throne, O Mighty God!
Related Themes:
Act 2, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Young Men:
In the following scene from Act 2, Scene 3, Panthea describes the entrance into the Demogorgon's realm to Asia. According to Panthea, the entrance is surrounded by an "oracular vapor," which, as the name suggests, might contain something about the truth of the world or the future. Using metaphor and imagery, Shelley describes the many "young men" who seek these truths:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Hither the sound has borne us—to the realm
Of Demogorgon, and the mighty portal,
Like a volcano’s meteor-breathing chasm,
Whence the oracular vapour is hurled up
Which lonely men drink wandering in their youth,
And call truth, virtue, love, genius, or joy,
That maddening wine of life, whose dregs they drain
To deep intoxication; and uplift,
Like Maenads who cry loud, Evoe! Evoe!
The voice which is contagion to the world.
Related Themes:
