At the beginning of Book 3, the narrator uses visual imagery and a simile to describe a pivotal moment that may have led to Florence's suicide. John describes her catching Edward and Nancy behaving amorously in a park at night:
It was a very black night and the girl was dressed in cream-coloured muslin, that must have glimmered under the tall trees of the dark park like a phosphorescent fish in a cupboard. You couldn’t have had a better beacon.
The visual imagery Ford employs here plays on the contrast of sharply defined black and white elements, including Nancy’s “cream-colored” dress “glimmering” in the darkness of the park. The simile amplifies this contrast, comparing Nancy to "a phosphorescent fish in a cupboard." Here, the narrator portrays the girl as literally glowing, being “luminous” in the dark setting. The simile also implies that Nancy doesn’t belong in the scene, just as a glowing fish would be out of place in a cupboard. Nancy isn’t actually giving off light, but Florence is so shocked to see her with Edward that she becomes visually unmissable. The simile might also suggest that Nancy—like a phosphorescent creature—is unable to hide from Florence. Now that she has seen the evidence of Edward’s infidelity for herself, Florence cannot pretend to have missed Nancy’s presence.
Furthermore, the phrase "You couldn’t have had a better beacon" underlines how unavoidable seeing the truth here is for Florence. Just as a beacon is designed to attract attention, Nancy's appearance in the park makes it impossible for the affair to remain concealed.
As he tries to encapsulate the beauty and the concurrent tragedy of their relationship, John describes Edward and Leonora as being like Viking funeral ships drifting through a "river" of tragic lives:
Here were two noble people—for I am convinced that both Edward and Leonora had noble natures—here, then, were two noble natures, drifting down life, like fire-ships afloat on a lagoon and causing miseries, heartaches, agony of the mind and death. And they themselves steadily deteriorated. And why? For what purpose? To point what lesson? It is all a darkness.
The simile here paints Edward and Leonora as beautiful but doomed, indicating that the narrator believes they’re destined for tragedy without any hope. This fatalistic image conveys the chaos and predestination of their unhappiness. Of course, as this story is being told after the fact of the tragic events of infidelity and suicide, John knows that they are already condemned at the outset. As with many other points in this novel, this passage reminds the readers that they are hearing a narrative from a biased perspective. Despite their “noble natures,” to John they are inherently doomed, their lives marked by a continuous drift towards sorrow and pain.
The metaphor of the "fire-ships" extends to represent the ongoing emotional and psychological devastation caused by their marriage. It suggests that the relationship between Edward and Leonora is not just troubled but actively destructive, consuming them from within like a fire. This metaphor paints their union as a source of continuous disruption and distress, leading to their steady deterioration.
Furthermore, the idea of a "fire-ship" is significant because of the material cost of Leonora and Edward's failing marriage. When people refer to fire-ships in a historical context, they're usually talking about Viking funeral rites. Warriors who died honorably in battle would be set ablaze on ships containing all of their precious possessions. Describing this marriage as being like a "fire-ship"points to the destruction of all of the order and contents of their lives.
John’s observation of the "darkness" surrounding the couple—despite the brightness of the “blaze” of their dramatic interactions—indicates his inability to fully comprehend their situation. He struggles to find meaning or purpose in their suffering, questioning the lesson to be learned from such misery. The idea of darkness here also points to the fact that, although John feels as if he knows these characters very well, it's impossible for him to understand all of the internal complications of a marriage that is not his own.
Although Nancy’s involved in an affair, she doesn’t really understand the implications of it. The narrator uses a simile and an allusion to depict Nancy's naivety and limited understanding of adultery:
She knew that one was commanded not to commit adultery—but why, she thought, should one? It was probably something like catching salmon out of season—a thing one did not do. She gathered it had something to do with kissing, or holding someone in your arms ….
The simile comparing the act of committing adultery to catching salmon out of season reflects Nancy's inability to grasp the concept of adultery. It’s totally beyond her limited experience and understanding. As in many other countries, in the United Kingdom hunting certain kinds of fish or game is legally allocated to different seasons of the year. Doing so outside of these seasons is both illegal and considered morally dubious, as it could impact the stock of the creatures remaining for the next season. In Nancy’s mind, adultery is akin to an illegal or unsportsmanlike act, something "not done," rather than a morally grave transgression. This trivialization suggests her lack of comprehension of an affair’s complexity and seriousness. The comparison to catching salmon out of season—which especially in the grand scheme of this novel seems quite trivial—shows how ill-prepared she is to enter the lion’s den of Leonora’s relationship with Edward. Nancy sees adultery as a mere breach of etiquette rather than a significant moral or emotional issue because she doesn’t know any better.
Additionally, the allusion to the biblical “Ten Commandments” here further illustrates Nancy's superficial understanding. While Nancy is aware that adultery is prohibited by both law and religion, her comparison of it to a minor infraction also points to her lack of lived experience and maturity. The reference to the Commandment here is particularly significant because Leonora and Edward are a Catholic couple. In Catholic theology, adultery is considered a mortal sin. Mortal sins separate the soul from its relationship with God, and within Catholicism are considered the most serious offenses a person can commit. For a sin to be considered “mortal” it has to meet three conditions. It has to be a serious matter, it has to be committed with full knowledge of its sinfulness, and one has to consent to participating in a sinful act. It's unclear whether John thinks Nancy is actually committing a mortal sin here, as the simile comparing her understanding of adultery to “catching salmon out of season” indicates that only one of these three conditions (the seriousness of the act) is met. This also places Nancy's version of adultery in stark contrast to Edward’s, who knows exactly what he's doing, knows it's "sinful," and fully consents to it on many occasions.
As Nancy describes her frustration in the situation she finds herself in with Edward, Ford uses a simile to express her feelings of helplessness as she’s caught between Leonora and her husband:
I know what was passing in her mind, if she can be said to have a mind[...] the poor girl said she felt like a shuttlecock being tossed backwards and forwards between the violent personalities of Edward and his wife.
A shuttlecock, also known as a birdie, is a high-drag projectile used to play the lawn game badminton. It has an open conical shape formed by feathers embedded into a rounded cork base. The unique shape of the shuttlecock makes it aerodynamically stable: it can only do one thing. When it’s hit, it flies with the cork forward and the feathers trailing behind. This makes it uniquely easy to control if one understands how it works.
The simile comparing Nancy to a shuttlecock in a game of badminton points to her sense of being powerless and at the mercy of Edward and Leonora's actions. Like a shuttlecock, she feels that she can only behave in one way. Ford’s simile conveys Nancy's feeling of being manipulated and dominated by the "violent personalities" of Edward and his wife. It also suggests that she feels she’s become embroiled unwillingly in a game and is being treated like an object to play with.
The fact that shuttlecocks are unable to move on their own further emphasizes Nancy's perceived helplessness. She feels entirely controlled by the actions of Edward and Leonora, tossed about without any agency or power to resist. The unkind aside that John makes here, implying that she might not "have a mind," implies that he agrees with her. Although he certainly doesn't think she's blameless, she's less culpable than the stronger Edward and Leonora.
