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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
Act 1, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Sharp as My Needle:
After Posthumus leaves Britain on a boat in accordance with his exile by King Cymbeline, Imogen uses a simile and a metaphor that describe her love for him. Speaking with Pisanio, Posthumus’s loyal servant, she states:
I would have broke mine eyestrings, cracked them, but
To look upon him till the diminution
Of space had pointed him sharp as my needle;
Nay, followed him till he had melted from
The smallness of a gnat to air; and then
Have turned mine eye and wept. But, good Pisanio,
When shall we hear from him?
Because she is imprisoned in the castle, Imogen was not able to accompany Posthumus as he boarded the boat and sailed away from Britain to Italy. She claims that, had she been there, she would have watched him sail away so closely and for so long that she would have broken her eyes, focusing her gaze on him until he was as small “as my needle.” This simile emphasizes her devotion to Posthumus, as she would have continued to watch him until the boat was no larger than a small point on the horizon. Next, she claims that she would have continued to watch him until he “melted” from the “smallness of a gnat to air” before turning away and weeping, a metaphor that again emphasizes her love for Posthumus.
Related Themes:
Act 1, Scene 6
Explanation and Analysis—Like Diana's Priest:
Attempting to seduce Imogen in fulfillment of his wager with Posthumus, Iachimo uses a simile that alludes to the Roman goddess Diana:
Should he make me
Live, like Diana's priest, betwixt cold sheets,
Whiles he is vaulting variable ramps,
In your despite, upon your purse? Revenge it.
I dedicate myself to your sweet pleasure,
More noble than that runagate to your bed,
And will continue fast to your affection,
Still close as sure.
Iachimo has traveled from Italy to Britain in order to win a bet with Posthumus that he could seduce Posthumus’s wife Imogen despite his unshakeable faith in her loyalty to him. His first strategy is to imply to Imogen that Posthumus has been conducting affairs with Italian sex workers while she waits devoutly for him in Britain. Iachimo argues that if Posthumus made him live “like Diana’s priest, betwixt cold sheets” while Posthumus himself was out “vaulting variable ramps” (or in other words, sleeping with lots of women), then he would seek revenge. Here, Iachimo alludes to Diana, a goddess and the Roman equivalent of the Greek Artemis. Diana was famed for her chastity, requiring the nymphs, maidens, and priests who attend to her to remain virgins. Iachimo, then, argues that Imogen could best revenge herself against Posthumus by similarly cheating on him and more, specifically, by sleeping with Iachimo himself.
Related Themes:
Act 3, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Neptune's Park:
Encouraging her husband, King Cymbeline, to deny the annual tribute to Rome even at the risk of war, the Queen uses a number of allusions and a simile to strengthen her argument for severing diplomatic relations with the powerful foreign empire:
Remember, sir, my liege,
The kings your ancestors, together with
The natural bravery of your isle, which stands
As Neptune's park, ribbed and paled in
With rocks unscalable and roaring waters,
With sands that will not bear your enemies' boats,
But suck them up to the topmast. A kind of conquest
Caesar made here; but made not here his brag
Of 'Came' and 'saw' and 'overcame: ' with shame—
That first that ever touch'd him—he was carried
From off our coast, twice beaten; and his shipping—
Poor ignorant baubles!— upon our terrible seas,
Like egg-shells.
Imploring him to think of his illustrious “ancestors,” the Queen alludes to Neptune, Roman god of the sea and equivalent to the Greek Poseidon, describing the island of Britain as “Neptune’s park,” as it is surrounded by water on all sides. Islands, she argues, are difficult to invade, providing Britain with an important advantage in future conflicts with Rome. She next alludes to Julius Caesar and a famous phrase attributed to him: “I came, I saw, I conquered.” These well-known words, she reminds the King, were not uttered in reference to Britain, but rather, to the Battle of Zela in modern day Turkey. Last, she uses a simile, describing the Roman boats as being “like egg-shells” when they crash upon the rocky shores of Britain.
Related Themes:
