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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 2
Explanation and Analysis—Vials of Blood:
The Duchess of Gloucester uses both a simile and a related metaphor for understanding genealogy in her speech to John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. The Duchess states:
Edward’s seven sons, whereof thyself art one,
Were as seven vials of his sacred blood
Or seven fair branches springing from one root.
Some of those seven are dried by nature’s course,
Some of those branches by the Destinies cut.
But Thomas, my dear lord, my life, my Gloucester,
One vial full of Edward’s sacred blood,
One flourishing branch of his most royal root,
Is cracked and all the precious liquor spilt
Her speech here draws on the use of the word “blood” to understand paternity and imagines, in a simile, that the seven sons of the former King Edward are seven vials of his blood that preserve some essence of his identity. She uses this simile to persuade John of Gaunt to avenge the murder of the Duke of Gloucester, her husband and his brother, who she describes as a “viall full of Edward’s sacred blood” that has been “cracked,” its “precious liquor spilt.”
Further, she draws from the implicit metaphor of a “family tree” in figuring the seven brothers as “branches” that spring from their father, the root. Some of these branches have “dried by nature’s course,” or died by natural causes, and others have been “cut” early by destiny. Here, her metaphors emphasize the extent to which a person “lives on” past their own death in their children. Whoever murdered the Duke of Gloucester, then, has also in some sense injured his father, the deceased former King, who lives on through his descendants.
Related Themes:
Act 1, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Pilgrims:
Bolingbroke uses a simile that compares himself and Mowbray to religious pilgrims upon being exiled from England for six years by King Richard II. Speaking before the King and his entourage, Bolingbroke states:
For Mowbray and myself are like two men
That vow a long and weary pilgrimage.
Then let us take a ceremonious leave
And loving farewell of our several friends.
In the medieval period in which this play is set, many Christians went on a religious pilgrimage to the various sites centered around Jerusalem, collectively known as the “Holy Land” for their significance in the Bible. Generally, they undertook these pilgrimages as an expression of religious piety or to seek forgiveness for spiritual and moral transgressions. Having been exiled from England by King Richard II, Bolingbroke metaphorically describes this exile as a sort of “long and weary” pilgrimage that will require him to “take a ceremonious leave” of his friends and family.
This metaphor of a religious pilgrimage is layered with meaning. First, in imagining both himself and Mowbray alike as pilgrims, he implicitly vows to uphold the King’s commandment that they will not continue their dispute while in exile. Christian pilgrims, after all, would have been expected to aid one another in their journeys to the Holy Land and to refrain from fighting once there. Second, Mowbray emphasizes the difficulties and perils he will face in exile. Pilgrimage to the Holy Land was a lengthy voyage that required a pilgrim to spend many years away from their loved ones, without any assurance that they would make it back home alive. Third, his metaphor minimizes his shame by imagining his exile not as a harsh punishment, but as a solemn duty undertaken voluntarily in service of the King.
Explanation and Analysis—The Best for Last:
Bolingbroke uses a simile to compare the act of saying goodbye to his father, John of Gaunt, to eating the dessert that is served at the end of a meal. Speaking before his father and the King’s entourage, he states:
Lo, as at English feasts, so I regreet
The daintiest last, to make the end most sweet.
O, thou the earthly author of my blood,
Whose youthful spirit in me regenerate
Doth with a twofold vigor lift me up
To reach at victory above my head
Bolingbroke first claims that he saves dessert—the “daintiest” part of a meal—for last in order to finish with the “most sweet element.” Likewise, after saying goodbye to the various nobles who have gathered in the tournament courts of Coventry to observe his duel with Mowbray, he reserves his final farewell for his father, saving the "most sweet" or best for last. His simile, then, emphasizes his love for his father and prioritizes him above all of the other assembled figures including the King. This simile also underscores his deep sorrow at being separated from his elderly father for six years without assurance that they will ever meet again. Ultimately, Bolingbroke’s apprehensions are validated, as John of Gaunt dies before the end of his son’s exile and the two are never reunited, spurring Bolingbroke’s fury at the King.
Related Themes:
Act 2, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—You're A Shooting Star:
The Earl of Salilsbury, one of King Richard II’s few remaining allies within the aristocracy, uses a simile that compares the King to a “shooting star.” Responding to an update on the advance of Bolingbroke's army of rebels by the Welsh Captain, the Earl states:
Ah, Richard! With the eyes of heavy mind
I see thy glory like a shooting star
Fall to the base earth from the firmament.
The Earl’s simile is layered. It acknowledges the “glory” of the King, who is bright, radiant, and eye-catching like a shooting star in the night sky. Indeed, the play portrays the proud Richard as an occasionally impressive figure despite his many flaws. However, the Earl’s simile also acknowledges that the King’s reign seems doomed to come to an early end—a shooting star, after all, falls down to the earth from the heavens.
This image of a shooting star falling to “the base earth from the firmament” is commonly used in Shakespeare’s plays to describe “larger than life” characters whose grand ambitions are undercut by tragedy. The Earl’s simile registers the strengths and weaknesses of the King, who is occasionally impressive and eloquent but lacks the personal strength needed to carry out and defend his reign and therefore seems destined to “burn out."
