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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
Key Examples in The Revenger’s Tragedy
Act 2, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—A Paradise Locked Up :
Gratiana, the widowed mother of Vindice, Hippolito and Castiza, uses a series of closely related metaphors in her attempt to convince Castiza to offer her virginity to the wealthy and powerful Lussurioso, heir to his father’s Dukedom, in exchange for financial privileges. Admonishing her daughter for her reluctance, Gratiana states that:
Oh if thou knewest
What t’were to lose it, thou would never keep it.
But there’s a cold curse laid upon all maids,
Whilst other clip the sun, they clasp the shades!
Virginity is paradise locked up.
You cannot come by yourselves without fee,
And it was decreed that man should keep the key.
Related Themes:
Act 4, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—Cracked Ice:
Prior to the conclusion of their revenge plot at a royal banquet in honor of Lussurioso, Vindice and Hippolito confront their mother about her willingness to give over her daughter to the Duke’s family in exchange for financial privileges. They shame her for prioritizing money over honor, and Vindice uses a metaphor that compares a woman whose virtue has been compromised to cracked ice:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Hippolito. To be miserably great; rich, to be eternally wretched.
Vindice. O common madness. Ask but the thriving’st harlot in cold blood,
She’d give the world to make her honour good.
Perhaps you’ll say, but only to the duke’s son
In private; why, she first begins with one,
Who afterward to thousand proves a whore.
Break ice in one place, it will crack in more.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Gratiana's Tears:
After Vindice and Hippolito brutally criticize their mother for her willingness to offer Castiza to Lussurioso in exchange for financial security, they are moved by her apparent change of heart. As she cries in shame and remorse, they use a series of closely related metaphors that imagine her tears as a purifying rain:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Vindice. Nay and you draw tears once: go you to bed.
Wet will make iron blush and change to red.
Brother, it rains; ’twill spoil your dagger, house it.Hippolito. ’Tis done. Vindice. I’faith ’tis a sweet shower, it does much good.
The fruitful grounds and meadows of her soul
Has been long dry: pour down, thou blessed dew.
Rise, mother; troth, this shower has made you higher.Mother. O you heavens. Take this infectious spot out of my soul,
I’ll rinse it in seven waters of mine eyes;
Make my tears salt enough to taste of grace.
Related Themes:
