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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—Empire:
The following metaphor and surrounding passage, taken from Prometheus's initial monologue at the beginning of Act 1, appropriately encompass the resentment and frustration Prometheus feels towards Jupiter, ruler of the gods:
Scorn and despair,—these are mine empire.
More glorious far than that which thou surveyest
From thine unenvied throne, O Mighty God!
Prometheus compares himself to Jupiter, juxtaposing his own figurative "empire" of "scorn and despair" with Jupiter's dominion—the entire world. Notably, though Prometheus holds court on the mountaintop, he cannot include his prison in a metaphorical "empire" of his own. Being imprisoned, Prometheus has no control over anything except his own personal thoughts, words, and emotions. His empire does not encompass land, but rather "scorn" and "despair"—and, as the word "empire" implies, these emotions are all-consuming for Prometheus. They are his empire, but they are simultaneously his burden: he can no more escape them than Jupiter can his throne.
Despite this lack of control, Prometheus calls Jupiter's throne "unenvied," signalling that his ire does not stem from a lust for power. Though power is undeniably a factor influencing both Prometheus and Jupiter, it is not the source of Prometheus's woe. Prometheus is frustrated at a true injustice that has been committed against him, caring more for the fate of both himself and humanity than the throne of Mount Olympus.
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Explanation and Analysis—Gaia's Hate:
In the following passage from Act 1, Mother Earth describes her anger at Jupiter on behalf of her son. She levels a curse of her own against Jupiter, describing her hatred using metaphor:
And the thin air, my breath, was stained
With the contagion of a mother’s hate
Breathed on her child’s destroyer—aye, I heard
Thy curse, the which, if thou rememberest not,
Yet my innumerable seas and streams,
Mountains, and caves, and winds, and yon wide air,
And the inarticulate people of the dead,
Preserve, a treasured spell.
To great effect, Mother Earth describes her anger on Prometheus's behalf as a kind of contagion. This metaphor can be interpreted in several ways. First, that the Earth's fury has been long as she awaits justice for the many years of her son's torture. Like a virus, her anger has infiltrated its host, but must wait for the right time to bring about its downfall. While Jupiter may suffer the "infection" of vengeance passed to him through a mother's hatred, he is not the only one affected. Prometheus Unbound is a tale that cautions readers about the ability of vengeance to corrupt the seeker, a process that brings harm to all involved. Mother Earth is "contagious" in her hatred, spreading this ill-will to Jupiter—but she herself is not unaffected.
Explanation and Analysis—The Curse:
In the following passage from Act 1, the Phantasm repeats Prometheus's curse against Jupiter back to him, in his own words. Using metaphor as a vessel, Prometheus describes the comeuppance that his foe will receive:
I curse thee! let a sufferer’s curse
Clasp thee, his torturer, like remorse
Till thine Infinity shall be
A robe of envenomed agony;
And thine Omnipotence a crown of pain,
To cling like burning gold round thy dissolving brain.
It is revealed that in anger, Prometheus had once declared that Jupiter's omnipotence would be a "crown of pain," using figurative language to describe the exact nature of his vengeance. This metaphor brings to mind the plight of Jesus, who was made to wear a crown of thorns as a mockery of his claim to being the Son of God. In this instance, the comparison is apt: robes, like crowns, are beautiful garments fit for kings, and in the above passage, both articles of clothing metaphorically lead to the pain and eventual downfall of the wearer. By stating that Jupiter's "Infinity" will choke him like a poisoned robe and that he will wear a "crown of pain," Prometheus correctly assumes that Jupiter's love of the crown and lust for power will be his undoing.
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Act 2, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Young Men:
In the following scene from Act 2, Scene 3, Panthea describes the entrance into the Demogorgon's realm to Asia. According to Panthea, the entrance is surrounded by an "oracular vapor," which, as the name suggests, might contain something about the truth of the world or the future. Using metaphor and imagery, Shelley describes the many "young men" who seek these truths:
Hither the sound has borne us—to the realm
Of Demogorgon, and the mighty portal,
Like a volcano’s meteor-breathing chasm,
Whence the oracular vapour is hurled up
Which lonely men drink wandering in their youth,
And call truth, virtue, love, genius, or joy,
That maddening wine of life, whose dregs they drain
To deep intoxication; and uplift,
Like Maenads who cry loud, Evoe! Evoe!
The voice which is contagion to the world.
In this passage, the "lonely men" drink "oracular" vapors that are likened, through metaphor, to the concepts of "truth, virtue, love, genius, [and] joy." The image of these men wandering parallels the image of learned men from the Romantic period, striving to achieve these laudable things but facing the limitations and darkness of the world around them. These Romantic young intellectuals wish to know the future, but become "lonely" in their pursuit of knowledge—a loneliness that causes them to spurn the hedonistic, everyday pleasures of the world of the living.
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