Previous
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
Act 1, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Exalted Thee:
In a series of related metaphors, Subtle insultingly suggests that he has created Face out of inanimate materials in the manner of a god or wizard:
Sub. Thou vermin, have I ta'en thee out of dung,
So poor, so wretched, when no living thing
Would keep thee company, but a spider, or worse?
Rais'd thee from brooms, and dust, and watering-pots,
Sublimed thee, and exalted thee, and fix'd thee
In the third region, call'd our state of grace?
Wrought thee to spirit, to quintessence, with pains
Would twice have won me the philosopher's work?
Put thee in words and fashion, made thee fit
For more than ordinary fellowships?
Previously, Face suggested that Subtle depends upon him, as he was impoverished when they first met. Subtle responds angrily, characterizing Face, in a metaphor, as “vermin” who lived in “dung” and countering that he “Rais’d” Face “from brooms, and dust, and watering pots.” In this metaphor, Subtle imagines himself as a wizard-like figure who “sublimed” and “exalted” Face out of basic household materials. Expanding on this metaphor, Subtle argues that he “fix’d” Face in “our state of grace” and provided him with a “spirit.” Here, Subtle’s metaphorical language draws both from magic and the act of divine creation, as he suggests that he imbued Face with a soul. These efforts, he concludes, “would twice have won [him] the philosopher’s work,” metaphorically suggesting that his “creation” of Face took a good deal of effort. Through these various metaphors, then, Subtle suggests that Face had no willpower of his own before he met Subtle, as he was merely a servant who followed his master’s directions and had no plans or goals of his own.
Related Themes:
Act 2, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—A Kind of Game:
Sir Epicure Mammon, who places great faith in alchemy, is accompanied by Surly, who is deeply skeptical of Subtle’s promises. When Subtle defends alchemy with a fallacious premise, Surly responds to his fallacy with a metaphor that characterizes alchemy as little more than a card trick:
Sub. Art can beget bees, hornets, beetles, wasps,
Out of the carcases and dung of creatures;
Yea, scorpions of an herb, being rightly placed?
And these are living creatures, far more perfect
And excellent than metals.Mam. Well said, father!
Nay, if he take you in hand, sir, with an argument,
He'll bray you in a mortar.SUR. Pray you, sir, stay.
Rather than I'll be brayed, sir, I'll believe
That Alchemy is a pretty kind of game,
Somewhat like tricks o' the cards, to cheat a man
With charming.
Subtle argues that “Art,” which here means “human craft,” can create “bees, hornets, beetles, wasps / Out of the carcases and dung of creatures.” If alchemy can create living things, Subtle reasons, then it should be simple to create “metals,” which are less complex. Though Mammon accepts Subtle’s fallacious logic, which is based on a number of false claims and assumptions, Surly remains unconvinced. In a metaphor, he describes alchemy as “a pretty kind of game, / Somewhat like tricks o’ the cards” that are used to “cheat” others. Surly, then, sees through Subtle’s act and recognizes, correctly, that he is no powerful magician or doctor but rather a street hustler experienced in sleight of hand.
Related Themes:
Act 2, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—Parents of Metals:
Subtle disguises himself as an alchemist in order to trick and rob Sir Epicure Mammon and others. In his attempt to explain how alchemy works to Mammon and the skeptical Surly, Subtle uses an elaborate metaphor that imagines metals as living things that are capable of birth:
Sub. It turns to sulphur, or to quicksilver,
Who are the parents of all other metals.
Nor can this remote matter suddenly
Progress so from extreme unto extreme,
As to grow gold, and leap o'er all the means [...]
Of that airy
And oily water, mercury is engender'd;
Sulphur of the fat and earthy part; the one,
Which is the last, supplying the place of male,
The other of the female, in all metals.
Some do believe hermaphrodeity,
That both do act and suffer. But these two
Make the rest ductile, malleable, extensive.
And even in gold they are.
Attempting to explain how metals might be converted into other metals, Subtle first claims that sulfur and quicksilver (or mercury) are the “parents of all other metals.” From these two basic metals, then, Subtle suggests that he can create any other metal—most notably gold. Mercury, he claims, can be “engender’d” or born out of the “airy / And oily” aspects of his alchemical solution, and Sulphur is created from “the fat and earthy part.” Further, he notes that sulfur is the “male” metal and mercury the “female.” When mixed through alchemy, then, these metals can give birth to any other, “even gold.” Subtle’s claims here are, of course, nonsensical. Nevertheless, his metaphors, which draw from the model of the human body and human procreation, prove convincing to Mammon, who quickly falls for their scam.
Related Themes:
