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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 The Sign of the Four
Chapter 1 — The Science of Deduction
Explanation and Analysis—The Tobacco Sleuth:
In Chapter 1, Holmes and Watson discuss Holmes's detective work and his impressive ability to reason through deduction. Through these conversations, the reader is also privy to Holmes's extraordinary self-confidence. He often conveys this confidence through similes that trivialize his esoteric, highly specialized knowledge and skillset, as in the following passage:
If you can say definitely, for example, that some murder had been done by a man who was smoking an Indian lunkah, it obviously narrows your field of search. To the trained eye there is as much difference between the black ash of a Trichinopoly and the white fluff of bird's-eye as there is between a cabbage and a potato.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Romancing the Square:
In Chapter 1, the reader meets the detective Sherlock Holmes and the unconventional—and highly principled—methods that he employs in his detective work. Holmes explains his philosophy of "detection" through simile and allusion:
Unlock with LitCharts A+'Honestly, I cannot congratulate you upon it. Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it with romanticism, which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story or an elopement into the fifth proposition of Euclid.'
Related Themes:
Chapter 6 — Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration
Explanation and Analysis—Eagle-Eye, Hound-Nose:
In Chapter 5, Holmes and Watson begin to unravel the mystery of Bartholomew Sholto's murder. As Holmes pieces the scene together and prepares to trace the escape of the murderers, Watson wields a double simile to compare Holmes's shrewd observation skills to those of an animal:
Unlock with LitCharts A+He whipped out his lens and a tape measure and hurried about the room on his knees, measuring, comparing, examining, with his long thin nose only a few inches from the planks and his beady eyes gleaming and deep-set like those of a bird. So swift, silent, and furtive were his movements, like those of a trained bloodhound picking out a scent, that I could not but think what a terrible criminal he would have made had he turned his energy and sagacity against the law instead of exerting them in its defense.
Related Themes:
Chapter 7 — The Episode of the Barrel
Explanation and Analysis—Toby's Talents:
In Chapter 7, the reader meets the talented Toby—a dog with a legendary nose whom Holmes and Watson recruit from a kennel in their search for the Wooden-Legged Man. Doyle uses a simile to emphasize Toby's uncanny skill at identifying and tracking scents:
Unlock with LitCharts A+He pushed the creosote handkerchief under the dog's nose, while the creature stood with its fluffy legs separated, and with a most comical cock to its head, like a connoisseur sniffing the bouquet of a famous vintage.
Related Themes:
