Simile: Kitely's Brain

Kitely reveals himself to be very gifted with figurative language. It helps that he
is self-aware but also naive, the former perhaps to the point of narcissistic self-
centeredness. One of his many asides to the audience to allow them a glimpse into
this sense of awareness involves a description of how his own brain works: "My
brain, methinks, is like an hour-glass, / Wherein my imaginations run like sands"
(46).

Simile: Clement the Wise

Justice Clement is situated in opposition to Knowell, the patriarch doling out
advice like a sage, but revealed to be rather gullible and easily confused.
Clement, on the other hand, is capable of seeing right to the truth of what is
happening with those involved in such machinations, but his character is also one
that gets a kick out of sitting back and watching things unfold. However, when
Knowell gets into particularly despondent mood, Clement is quick to turn to
metaphor to give the old man a jolt of cold reality: "Your cares are nothing: they
are like my cap, soon put on, and as soon put off" (59).

Simile: The Moon

Edward says to Wellbred that he guesses his father thinks he is a "strange
dissolute" (40) figure right now, but Wellbred tries to encourage him that the
thought is "like the moon in her last / quarter, 'twill change shortly" (40). A
moon in her last quarter is about to disappear completely, which is a fitting image
for the perception Knowell has of his son at the moment.