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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
Chapter 9
Explanation and Analysis—Polishing:
In the ninth chapter, the Primose family has dinner with Squire Thornhill and his company. Throughout this dinner, the town ladies go on and on about urban life and culture, bringing up many topics Olivia and Sophia know nothing about. After the ladies insinuate that the girls should spend time in London to become more worldly, Mrs. Primrose uses a metaphor to compare them to rough, unpolished gemstones:
One of them observed, that had miss Olivia seen a little more of the world, it would greatly improve her. To which the other added, that a single winter in town would make her little Sophia quite another thing. My wife warmly assented to both; adding, that there was nothing she more ardently wished than to give her girls a single winter’s polishing.
When Mrs. Primrose says that she wants to give her girl's a "winter's polishing," she is echoing the town ladies' claim that some time in London would improve the girls. The word "polish" suggests that Olivia and Sophia are rough gemstones, perhaps even diamonds. Before a gemstone has been polished, it looks like a rough rock. Only after polishing the gemstone does its brilliance come to light. Through this metaphor, Mrs. Primrose simultaneously articulates that her daughters are priceless and beautiful, and that something is lacking in their refinement.
This troubles Dr. Primrose, who believes that his daughters' breeding is "already superior to their fortune." In his view, "greater refinement would only serve to make their poverty ridiculous, and give them a taste for pleasures they had no right to possess." Some of the vicar's core values are modesty and humility, and he finds this conversation straying too far from the values he wants to instill in his children. Over the rest of the dinner, Dr. Primrose leads a conversation about virtue and temperance.
Later in the novel, the family finds out the Lady Blarney and Miss Caroline Wilhelmina Amelia Skeggs are crooks that Squire Thornhill hired to trick the Primroses. The ladies' seeming refinement was enough to make the Primroses put their blind faith in them.
Related Themes:
Chapter 23
Explanation and Analysis—Vice:
As Olivia struggles to settle back into life with her family in the 23rd chapter, she grows increasingly depressed over her lost honor and her health dramatically declines. This brings about a split between the two Primrose sisters, as Olivia grows envious of the still innocent, healthy, and beautiful Sophia. Dr. Primrose uses a metaphor to describe this development, comparing vices to weeds:
Every tender epithet bestowed on her sister brought a pang to her heart and a tear to her eye; and as one vice, tho’ cured, ever plants others where it has been, so her former guilt, tho’ driven out by repentance, left jealousy and envy behind.
Any time Sophia receives compliments, Olivia is pained because her loss of innocence prevents her from receiving the sort of attention she is used to. Additionally, her anxiety and depression have a detrimental effect on her appearance. The two sisters used to both be objects of admiration, and as foils highlighted each other's respective beauty. However, an asymmetry has come about that creates a rift between the two sisters and leads Olivia to isolate herself further. In Dr. Primrose's view, Olivia's guilt over her actions has given way to envy over her sister. He likens this substitution of guilt for jealousy to the behavior of weeds. After removing a weed from one's garden, other weeds tend to pop up in its place. Dr. Primrose suggests that, like weeds, vices produce more vices.
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Chapter 26
Explanation and Analysis—Hearts and Archers:
After Dr. Primrose holds a sermon for the prisoners in the 26th chapter, he reflects on his redemptive vision. Using a metaphor, he compares the process of redemption to an archer shooting an arrow at an open heart:
I therefore promised to repeat my lecture next day, and actually conceived some hopes of making a reformation here; for it had ever been my opinion, that no man was past the hour of amendment, every heart lying open to the shafts of reproof, if the archer could but take a proper aim.
Although many of the prisoners mock Dr. Primrose while he speaks, he continues his lecture because he knows that his words might "amend" at least some of his listeners. He is encouraged to find, after concluding his sermon, that several of the prisoners come to thank him. This strengthens his conviction that all people have the potential to be redeemed. In his metaphor, "the hearts lying open to the shafts of reproof" represent people like the prisoners. The archer represents himself. He recognizes that he has the power to save his fellow prisoners from sin and evil. What matters is whether he is able to take proper aim. In other words, he doesn't believe that some people can be shot by the archer's redeeming arrow and others can't, but that the archer has to figure out the best way to shoot his arrow. This shows that Dr. Primrose takes himself and his cause seriously, as he feels that the redemption of the men around him comes down to his words. Although there is something self-important and presumptuous to this metaphor, it nevertheless indicates that Dr. Primrose sees the good in people who have been discarded by society.
Related Themes:
