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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—A Merry War:
Through the motif of war, Shakespeare compares and contrasts courtship with battle. Benedick, Claudio, and the Prince make frequent references to war due to their recent arrival from the battlefield. In Messina, however, they find themselves in a completely different context. In Act 1, Scene 1, Claudio describes his newfound love of Hero as a shift in his perception: he stops using the eyes of a soldier and starts using those of a lover.
O, my lord,
When you went onward on this ended action,
I looked upon her with a soldier’s eye,
That liked, but had a rougher task in hand
Than to drive liking to the name of love.
But now I am returned and that war thoughts
Have left their places vacant, in their rooms
Come thronging soft and delicate desires,
All prompting me how fair young Hero is,
Saying I liked her ere I went to wars.
Related Themes:
Act 2, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Marriage as Fashion:
The characters in Much Ado About Nothing frequently talk about fashion as a way of describing one's choice of a marital partner. The motif of fashion compares marital partners to clothing items that are donned and discarded on a whim.
In Act 2, Scene 1, for instance, the Prince jokingly asks Beatrice whether she would consider marrying him. She replies:
Unlock with LitCharts A+No, my lord, unless I might have another for working days. Your Grace is too costly to wear every day.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Warring Words:
In Act 2, Scene 1, Benedick uses personification, metaphors, and similes in order to highlight the intensity of his frustration about failing to defend himself against Beatrice's insults. After Beatrice unknowingly insults him to his face at the masked ball, Benedick laments to the Prince:
Unlock with LitCharts A+O, she misused me past the endurance of a block! An oak but with one green leaf on it would have answered her. My very visor began to assume life and scold with her. She told me, not thinking I had been myself, that I was the Prince’s jester, that I was duller than a great thaw, huddling jest upon jest with such impossible conveyance upon me that I stood like a man at a mark with a whole army shooting at me. She speaks poniards, and every word stabs.
Related Themes:
Act 2, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Marriage as Fashion:
The characters in Much Ado About Nothing frequently talk about fashion as a way of describing one's choice of a marital partner. The motif of fashion compares marital partners to clothing items that are donned and discarded on a whim.
In Act 2, Scene 1, for instance, the Prince jokingly asks Beatrice whether she would consider marrying him. She replies:
Unlock with LitCharts A+No, my lord, unless I might have another for working days. Your Grace is too costly to wear every day.
Related Themes:
Act 3, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—A Merry War:
Through the motif of war, Shakespeare compares and contrasts courtship with battle. Benedick, Claudio, and the Prince make frequent references to war due to their recent arrival from the battlefield. In Messina, however, they find themselves in a completely different context. In Act 1, Scene 1, Claudio describes his newfound love of Hero as a shift in his perception: he stops using the eyes of a soldier and starts using those of a lover.
Unlock with LitCharts A+O, my lord,
When you went onward on this ended action,
I looked upon her with a soldier’s eye,
That liked, but had a rougher task in hand
Than to drive liking to the name of love.
But now I am returned and that war thoughts
Have left their places vacant, in their rooms
Come thronging soft and delicate desires,
All prompting me how fair young Hero is,
Saying I liked her ere I went to wars.
Related Themes:
Act 3, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis:
Alliteration is used throughout Much Ado About Nothing to contribute to the lighthearted and comedic tone of the play.
In Act 3, Scene 2, Claudio uses a metaphor that compares Beatrice and Benedick to bears. His use of alliteration in this metaphor foreshadows their future romantic coupling. After seeing Benedick leave with Leonato to ask for Beatrice's hand in marriage, Claudio says:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Hero and Margaret have by this played their parts with Beatrice, and then the two bears will not bite one another when they meet.
Related Themes:
Act 3, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis:
Alliteration is used throughout Much Ado About Nothing to contribute to the lighthearted and comedic tone of the play.
In Act 3, Scene 2, Claudio uses a metaphor that compares Beatrice and Benedick to bears. His use of alliteration in this metaphor foreshadows their future romantic coupling. After seeing Benedick leave with Leonato to ask for Beatrice's hand in marriage, Claudio says:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Hero and Margaret have by this played their parts with Beatrice, and then the two bears will not bite one another when they meet.
Related Themes:
Act 4, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—A Pit of Ink:
In Act 4, Scene 1, Leonato deplores Hero's alleged infidelity in scathing language. In particular, his use of metaphor suggests that Hero has been permanently corrupted by both her infidelity and the resulting decline of her reputation. He laments:
Unlock with LitCharts A+[...] why she, O she, is fall’n
Into a pit of ink, that the wide sea
Hath drops too few to wash her clean again,
And salt too little which may season give
To her foul tainted flesh!
Related Themes:
