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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
1. Of the Origin and Design of Government in General
Explanation and Analysis—Kings and Prostitutes:
At the end of the first section, Paine uses a morally-charged simile to cast aspersions on the critical thinking skills of his contemporaries. He begins with a reference to prostitution:
As a man, who is attached to a prostitute, is unfitted to choose or judge of a wife, so any prepossession in favour of a rotten constitution of government will disable us from discerning a good one.
Paine uses figurative language to compare a bad government—from his perspective, the English monarchy—to a prostitute. Though Paine was not a Christian, his moral stance aligns firmly with that of Christians at the time, maintaining that prostitution, and availing oneself of prostitutes, is a sinful act and should be condemned. This stance on prostitution would have been culturally ubiquitous in both the British Isles and the American colonies during this time period. Using such figurative language thus allows Paine to make moral assertions about the monarchy that a wide and diverse audience will find impactful. By appealing to broad social constructs and notions of morality shared by Christians and Deists alike, Paine is thus able to associate a love and appreciation for the monarchy with rotten judgement. Though undoubtedly such language would be considered offensive in the modern day, the cultural ubiquity of Christian sexual mores in the 18th century would have strengthened and not diminished Paine's argument.
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2. Of Monarchy and Hereditary Succession
Explanation and Analysis—Monarchy and Biology:
Paine undertakes a critique of hereditary succession over the course of the second section of Common Sense. He begins this section by discussing the "distinction of men into Kings and Subjects" as an abnormal occurrence, contradicting the laws of nature. Paine then utilizes a particularly apt simile to emphasize the abnormality of this distinction:
Male and female are the distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of heaven; but how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some new species, is worth enquiring into, and whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind.
In the above excerpt, Paine compares members of the monarchy to a "new species." The tone he takes with this comparison is derisive: by stating beforehand that "male and female are the distinctions of nature," he provides a parallel in the natural world to juxtapose the monarchy and its subjects. The monarchy is distinguished "like" some new species, but it is not in reality anything of the sort. Paine thus compares what he considers the true natural distinctions of "male" and "female" to the unnatural distinctions of the monarchy, implying and later asserting explicitly that such an equivalency is false.
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3. Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs
Explanation and Analysis—Tree Growth:
Toward the beginning of the third section of Common Sense, Paine utilizes simile, comparing a fracture in the unity of continental America to an engraving on a young tree:
Now is the seed time of continental union, faith and honor. The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young oak; the wound will enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it in full grown characters.
This simile emphasizes the long-term importance of political solidarity amongst colonists in America as they resist British monarchical tyranny. If an oak's bark is pierced when the tree is young, the resulting "wound" will get bigger and bigger as the oak matures. Paine's use of simile in this passage relies heavily on the power of "Nature," as he describes the growth of a tree and projects America's political situation onto this natural process. Paine employs such naturalistic language frequently throughout Common Sense, using the God-like authority accorded to "Nature" as a means of upholding his argument.
It is worth noting that Paine's conception of unity is exclusive, rather than inclusive. Paine's unity excludes, most prominently, enslaved persons. Indeed, many of those who would go on to lead the fight against the British and found the United States of America owned enslaved people. Paine's unity also excludes any illiterate, poor, or non-property-owning person, as well as women and indigenous people.
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