Abstract

Looking through Shakespeare's tragedies, we have an impression that each play has its own particular use of simile. How is it that we have such an impression ? This paper surveys Shakespeare's use of similes, focusing on their distribution, and their linguistic structure, especially as they appear in Titus Andronicus, Richard III, Othello and Macbeth. It also examines the difference between similes and metaphors in their communicative and cognitive functions, which leads to the discussion of how similes affect the recognition of the dramatic reality in each tragedy, and how Shakespeare's use of similes has developed through his career.
The analysis shows that Macbeth and Titus Andronicus have twice as many similes as Richard III, and, in Richard III, the use of similes is suppressed for various rhetorical reasons. The similes in Macbeth are concentrated in Act 1 and decrease as the story develops. In later plays, some linguistic structures of similes, like aspreposition similes in Othello and copula similes in Macbeth, are effectively used to imply a jeopardous situation in the dramatic world in which “is” and “is not”coexist and antagonize.