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Setting
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
Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—Lord Warburton's Love:
When Lord Warburton proposes to Isabel, the narrator captures the intensity of his feelings for the young American woman using imagery and a simile:
“I don’t make mistakes about such things; I’m a very judicious animal. I don’t go off easily, but when I’m touched, it’s for life. It’s for life, Miss Archer, it’s for life,” Lord Warburton repeated in the kindest, tenderest, pleasantest voice Isabel had ever heard, and looking at her with eyes charged with the light of a passion that had sifted itself clear of the baser parts of emotion—the heat, the violence, the unreason—and that burned as steadily as a lamp in a windless place.
The imagery here—“the kindest, tenderest, pleasantest voice Isabel had ever heard,” “eyes charged with the light of a passion that had sifted itself clear of the baser parts of emotion,” “the heat, the violence, the unreason”—comes together to communicate to readers the depth of Lord Warburton’s feelings for Isabel as well as her tender feelings toward him.
The simile furthers this point by describing how Lord Warburton’s eyes “burned as steadily as a lamp in a windless place.” Just like the flame in the lamp, Lord Warburton’s feelings for Isabel are steady and strong. The fact that Isabel ends up rejecting Lord Warburton’s proposal after this moment of shared passion for each other captures for readers Isabel’s even stronger passion for her independence and freedom.
Related Themes:
Chapter 17
Explanation and Analysis—Like Harps and Payments:
After Isabel rejects Goodwood’s attempt to bring her back to the United States with him near the beginning of the novel, the narrator uses a pair of similes to capture her excitement and relief:
She was not praying; she was trembling—trembling all over. Vibration was easy to her, was in fact too constant with her, and she found herself now humming like a smitten harp. She only asked, however, to put on the cover, to case herself again in brown holland, but she wished to resist her excitement, and the attitude of devotion, which she kept for some time, seemed to help her to be still. She intensely rejoiced that Caspar Goodwood was gone; there was something in having thus got rid of him that was like the payment, for a stamped receipt, of some debt too long on her mind.
First comparing Isabel to “a smitten harp” that is humming and vibrating, the narrator makes it clear just how intense her joy is—it is so strong she can feel it and hear it. This excitement comes from the fact that she has rejected the man who wants to bring her back to the United States, marry her, and keep her from independently exploring the world.
The second simile—which compares the act of getting rid of Goodwood to the payment of a “debt too long on her mind”—communicates how deeply burdened Isabel had been feeling about leaving the United States without making it clear to Goodwood that she was not interested in him as a romantic partner.
Related Themes:
Chapter 33
Explanation and Analysis—Like a Rudderless Vessel:
After Ralph learns that Isabel is going to marry Osmond, the narrator captures Ralph’s despair using a simile and imagery:
Ralph was shocked and humiliated; his calculations had been false and the person in the world in whom he was most interested was lost. He drifted about the house like a rudderless vessel in a rocky stream, or sat in the garden of the palace on a great cane chair, his long legs extended, his head thrown back and his hat pulled over his eyes. He felt cold about the heart; he had never liked anything less.
Describing Ralph as “drift[ing] about the house like a rudderless vessel in a rocky stream,” the narrator offers readers a clear visual of Ralph’s agony—they can picture him wandering around the house, bumping into this or that, completely distracted by his distress. The other imagery here—the description of Ralph’s hat being “pulled over his eyes” as well as the fact that he “felt cold about the heart”—also helps readers understand just how devastated Ralph is.
Part of the reason Ralph is so upset is because he is indirectly responsible for Isabel’s engagement. In encouraging his father Mr. Touchett to leave Isabel a large sum of money when he died, Ralph wanted to free her from the need to marry but instead made her the target of manipulative money-seeking people like Osmond.
Related Themes:
Chapter 55
Explanation and Analysis—Firm as a Rock:
At the end of the novel, when making his final plea to Isabel to leave Osmond and return to the United States with himself, Goodwood uses a simile:
“Why shouldn’t we be happy—when it’s here before us, when it’s so easy? I’m yours for ever—for ever and ever. Here I stand; I’m as firm as a rock […] You must save what you can of your life; you mustn’t lose it all simply because you’ve lost a part. It would be an insult to you to assume that you care for the look of the thing, for what people will say, for the bottomless idiocy of the world. We’ve nothing to do with all that; we’re quite out of it; we look at things as they are.”
Telling Isabel that he will be committed to her “for ever and ever,” Goodwood uses a simile to say that he is “as firm as a rock”—meaning that, unlike Osmond, he will be present and available to her as a true partner.
The rest of the passage is also notable in that it doubles down on Goodwood’s American New World orientation—he doesn’t care “for the look of the thing, for what people will say,” caring, instead about “look[ing] at things as they are.” Unlike the people who embody the European Old World—like Osmond and Madame Merle—Goodwood is not interested in appearances and sophistication.
Related Themes:
