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Logos
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
Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Armor of Virtue :
The narrator uses a metaphor that characterizes Emily Brent’s sense of moral righteousness to a suit of armor while depicting a conversation between her and schoolmistress Vera Claythorne:
“I? I had nothing with which to reproach myself.”
Vera said: “But if your—hardness—drove her to it.”
Emily Brent said sharply: “Her own action—her own sin—that was what drove her to it. If she had behaved like a decent modest young woman none of this would have happened.” She turned her face to Vera. There was no self-reproach, no uneasiness in those eyes. They were hard and self-righteous. Emily Brent sat on the summit of Soldier Island, encased in her own armour of virtue. The little elderly spinster was no longer slightly ridiculous to Vera. Suddenly—she was terrible.
Earlier, when the gramophone recording had accused Brent, alongside the other guests on Soldier Island, of murder, she refused to comment upon the charges. Alone with Vera, she acknowledges that she previously fired a teenage maid after she became pregnant out of wedlock, kicking the girl out of her house and leading her to commit suicide. Despite acknowledging this, Brent refuses to accept any responsibility for the girl’s “sin.” Here, the narrator describes Brent as being “encased in her own armour of virtue,” a metaphor that imagines Brent as wearing metal armor like a knight. This metaphor suggests that Brent is morally inflexible and unyielding, refusing to accommodate a changing world or the needs of others.
Related Themes:
Chapter 13
Explanation and Analysis—Bestial Types:
The narrator uses a series of similes and metaphors that compare the surviving guests to various animals as they abandon social etiquette and openly express their mutual suspicion:
And all of them, suddenly, looked less like human beings. They were reverting to more bestial types. Like a wary old tortoise, Mr. Justice Wargrave sat hunched up, his body motionless, his eyes keen and alert. Ex-Inspector Blore looked coarser and clumsier in build. His walk was that of a slow padding animal [...] Philip Lombard’s senses seemed heightened, rather than diminished. His ears reacted to the slightest sound. His step was lighter and quicker, his body was lithe and graceful. And he smiled often, his lips curling back from his long white teeth. Vera Claythorne [...] was like a bird that has dashed its head against glass [...]
Earlier, the guests had carefully maintained social propriety in order to exert a sense of normalcy despite their difficult circumstances. As more guests are killed, however, their strained nerves reach breaking point, and they abandon politeness, reverting to a “bestial” or animal-like state. The narrator describes the cautious Justice Wargrave as being “like a wary old tortoise,” and Blore is characterized as “a slow padding animal.” Lombard is, here and throughout the novel, described in the language of a predatory cat, and the overwhelmed Vera is “like a bird that has dashed its head against glass.” These various similes and metaphors repeatedly invoke animals, suggesting that, under duress, people eschew good manners and return to a more natural state in order to survive.
