Both Uses of
metaphor
in
The Scarlet Letter
- If the guillotine, as applied to office-holders, were a literal fact, instead of one of the most apt of metaphors, it is my sincere belief that the active members of the victorious party were sufficiently excited to have chopped off all our heads, and have thanked Heaven for the opportunity!†
Chpt Intr. *
- Keeping up the metaphor of the political guillotine, the whole may be considered as the POSTHUMOUS PAPERS OF A DECAPITATED SURVEYOR: and the sketch which I am now bringing to a close, if too autobiographical for a modest person to publish in his lifetime, will readily be excused in a gentleman who writes from beyond the grave.†
Chpt Intr.
Definition:
-
(metaphor) a figure of speech in which a similarity between two things is highlighted by using a word to refer to something that it does not literally denote -- as when Shakespeare wrote, "All the world’s a stage"
When Shakespeare wrote, "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players." he was not saying the world is really a stage and all people are actors. But he was pointing to the similarities he wants us to recognize.editor's notes: While metaphors and similes are both techniques of figurative language. The distinction is that a simile explicitly shows that a comparison is being made, by using words such as "like" or "as". A metaphor simply substitutes words assuming the reader will understand the meaning should not be take literally. "She is like a diamond in the rough" is a simile; while "She is a diamond in the rough" is a metaphor.