by beatriceotto | Dec 10, 2018 | metaphors
Sourdust is the aged, dusty, crumbling Master of Ceremonies and custodian of endless ritual, rites and rules in the world of Gormenghast castle, having digested a thousand tomes of protocol. He shuffles and coughs his way in reminding the Earl, Countess and their...
by beatriceotto | Dec 10, 2018 | metaphors
The physician of Gormenghast is one of the most likeable, humane and sane of the colourful characters that people the story; while being every bit as idiosyncratic as the rest of them. His strange voice is complemented by a slightly grating, nervous-sounding laugh. ...
by beatriceotto | Dec 3, 2018 | metaphors
Nanny Slagg meets an old man of the Dwellers, the humble people who live limpet-like on the outer walls of Gormenghast castle. Here he greets the castle’s envoy with the deference expected. The description of his voice suggests a low-frequency booming. ...
by beatriceotto | Dec 3, 2018 | metaphors
A lilting double simile here, each with a timeless simplicity. Let’s add them to the common stock and start to describe things as being ‘old as the world’, or ‘wise as the roots of trees’. Or you could shorten the last one to...
by beatriceotto | Nov 26, 2018 | metaphors
An unusual simile for rust, though of course, once seen, it seems natural. A beech hedge in winter has an intense and often uniform rust colour. ‘… and the corners were stacked with old weapons that were as rich with rust as a hedge of winter...
by beatriceotto | Nov 26, 2018 | metaphors
You can see Mr Flay side-stepping the presence of his mortal foe, Swelter, as one side-steps other unpleasantness in one’s path. Perhaps he could delicately pinch his fingers to his nose to preserve himself from any sweltering smells. ‘It had therefore...
by beatriceotto | Nov 19, 2018 | metaphors
Foxes have had a bad press due to their apparent wiliness. Whether justified or not, this alliterative allusion deserves to enter common usage. Please, next time you refer to someone as fickle, use this vulpine simile. ‘… as fickle as a fox.’ See...
by beatriceotto | Nov 19, 2018 | metaphors
Steerpike is icily calculating and glacially manipulative. He doesn’t have a warm emotion to his name beyond the impulse to self-advancement by any means and the satisfaction of seeing human puppets dance to his tunes. An extreme version of a common enough...
by beatriceotto | Nov 12, 2018 | metaphors
Gormenghast has two populations segregated by the walls of the rambling castle. The people outside are treated as lower order beings, but some individuals among them are portrayed with sympathy and admiration, throwing their humble nobility into sharp relief against...
