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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—Choking Love:
In two separate instances over the course of the play, Madame Ranevsky figuratively compares her emotional anguish to a heavy stone that weighs down her neck and shoulders. Through a metaphor and a simile, she uses this figurative stone to examine her complicated relationship to her past and romantic love.
After she and her brother pine for their childhood in the first act, Madame Ranevsky laments her inability to let go of the past.
Oh! if only I could free my neck and shoulders from the stone that weighs them down! If only I could forget my past!
In this metaphor, Madame Ranevsky compares the past to a stone. She describes her relationship to her past in tactile terms—thinking about the past gives her physical pain, as though she were being choked.
While Chekhov leaves it ambiguous just what about the past she wishes to escape, the audience has already learned that she lost her husband and seven-year-old son within a month of each other six years earlier. This immense loss is what brought her to leave the estate and Russia. Madame Ranevsky refers to the metaphorical stone right after describing the cherry orchard in positive terms. Thus, it seems as though some of her ambivalence about the past results from her inability to reconcile her contrasting associations with the estate and the cherry orchard. On the one hand, she cherishes her home and delights in the childhood memories that come alive when she's there. On the other hand, being in this place reminds her of the loss and pain she has suffered.
In the third act, Madame Ranevsky again relies on a figurative stone to express her emotions. This time, she isn't describing her relationship to the past as much as her relationship to an actual person:
My love is like a stone tied round my neck; it's dragging me down to the bottom; but I love my stone. I can’t live without it.
Once again, Madame Ranevsky compares an emotional aspect of her experience to a physical sensation. The figurative stone goes even further than a choking sensation here, making her feel like she's being dragged down to the bottom of a pit.
The stone simile is sparked by a telegram from Paris that Trophimof picks up. Over the course of the play, the audience gradually receives information about Madame Ranevsky's lover in Paris, to whom she's given much of her money. She recognizes that her impulse to go back to Paris and care for him is "stupid," but isn't ashamed of admitting that she still loves him. She can't help but continuing to love the source of her pain.
Related Themes:
Act 3
Explanation and Analysis—Choking Love:
In two separate instances over the course of the play, Madame Ranevsky figuratively compares her emotional anguish to a heavy stone that weighs down her neck and shoulders. Through a metaphor and a simile, she uses this figurative stone to examine her complicated relationship to her past and romantic love.
After she and her brother pine for their childhood in the first act, Madame Ranevsky laments her inability to let go of the past.
Oh! if only I could free my neck and shoulders from the stone that weighs them down! If only I could forget my past!
In this metaphor, Madame Ranevsky compares the past to a stone. She describes her relationship to her past in tactile terms—thinking about the past gives her physical pain, as though she were being choked.
While Chekhov leaves it ambiguous just what about the past she wishes to escape, the audience has already learned that she lost her husband and seven-year-old son within a month of each other six years earlier. This immense loss is what brought her to leave the estate and Russia. Madame Ranevsky refers to the metaphorical stone right after describing the cherry orchard in positive terms. Thus, it seems as though some of her ambivalence about the past results from her inability to reconcile her contrasting associations with the estate and the cherry orchard. On the one hand, she cherishes her home and delights in the childhood memories that come alive when she's there. On the other hand, being in this place reminds her of the loss and pain she has suffered.
In the third act, Madame Ranevsky again relies on a figurative stone to express her emotions. This time, she isn't describing her relationship to the past as much as her relationship to an actual person:
My love is like a stone tied round my neck; it's dragging me down to the bottom; but I love my stone. I can’t live without it.
Once again, Madame Ranevsky compares an emotional aspect of her experience to a physical sensation. The figurative stone goes even further than a choking sensation here, making her feel like she's being dragged down to the bottom of a pit.
The stone simile is sparked by a telegram from Paris that Trophimof picks up. Over the course of the play, the audience gradually receives information about Madame Ranevsky's lover in Paris, to whom she's given much of her money. She recognizes that her impulse to go back to Paris and care for him is "stupid," but isn't ashamed of admitting that she still loves him. She can't help but continuing to love the source of her pain.
Related Themes:
