One of the best ways to link qualities in literature is to use a metaphor. Without any watering down or dilution through "like" or "as," a metaphor solidly creates a bond between the two objects of comparison.
Definition of the Literary Technique: Metaphor
A metaphor compares two unlike persons, places, things, or ideas, without using comparative words such as “like” or “as.” A metaphor is therefore stronger than a simile/
Examples of the Literary Technique: Metaphor
Here is a general example, with some ways of expressing that someone’s eyes share qualities with stars.
“Your eyes are stars.”
“Your starry eyes brighten my day.”
In these cases, the writer is not using comparative words such as “like” or “as.”
Purpose of the Literary Technique: Metaphor
Like the simile, the metaphor is used when a writer wants to enhance a description of a person, place, thing, or idea. Careful writers will use comparisons that their readers are familiar with.
For example, many people are familiar with Adolph Hitler; thus, to compare a cruel person to Hitler is clear to most people.
However, the Borgias, an Italian family of schemers and killers who lived during the Renaissance, are less known. In Margaret Mitchell’s novel Gone with the Wind, Ashley Wilkes compares Rhett Butler to one of the Borgias, . Scarlett O’Hara hasn’t studied Italian history, and quickly wonders whether the family lives in Georgia.
Avoid the “Mixed Metaphor”
In addition, careful writers will avoid the “mixed metaphor,” in which two comparisons are used and which serve to confuse the reader, or cause unintended laughter. Here is an example: “On the road of life, be sure to sail with the wind.” Here, a careless writer has confused a land image with a water image. A mixed metaphor is often the result of hasty writing, without thought about the images.
Analysis of the Literary Technique: Metaphor
In William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene 2, Romeo is waiting to see Juliet. When he finally sees her, he exclaims:
“But soft! What light through yonder window break? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”
Romeo compares the new love of his life to the sun, without which there can be no life on earth. He is saying that without Juliet, he cannot live. This idea literally comes true at the end of the play, when finding Juliet lifeless, Romeo kills himself.
Metaphor in Paintings
Two paintings of Romeo and Juliet in the balcony scene serve to illustrate how artists use Shakespeare's metaphor of Juliet being the sun.
Ford Madox Brown's (1821-1893) illustration, Romeo and Juliet (1870) depicts Juliet in bright yellow, as if she literally is the sun. Romeo is in red. Together, they are the colors of fire, a metaphor that their love will burn too hot and quickly, killing them in the end.
Sir Frank Dicksee's (1853-1928) Pre-Raphaelite painting Romeo and Juliet (1884) is more subdued than Brown's, yet still incorporates the metaphor of Juliet being a sun. The light in this painting reflects Romeo’s words “soft.” The clothing of Juliet is white to reflect her innocence. Yet her hair is the color of the sun, and behind her is a yellow orb of flowers, which serve both as a visual metaphor for the sun, and a foreshadowing of flowers that will be laid at the tomb of the doomed lovers.
The use of metaphor in writing or art helps the readers and viewers absorb the story, and gain an enriched understanding of the theme.
References
Brown, Ford Madox. 1821, Delaware Art Museum
Dicksee, Sir Frank. "Romeo and Juliet." 1884.
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet.
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