The Title
Any study of the use of metaphor in the novel has only one place to begin. Rhoda Broughton did not exactly make a habit of choosing similes as her titles. Other books in her canon feature titles like Joan, Belinda, Doctor Cupid and Mrs. Bligh. Big on names was Rhoda; on similes not so much. But for this particular endeavor she settled on a simile as her title. What does she intend to convey with the idea of something being raised in the same manner as a flower? That is for the reader to decide.
Philosophizing
One of the aspects of the book that readers tend either to love or hate are the long passages of philosophical musing. If you enjoy flights of intellectual fancy, chances are this book will hold your interest. If not, then perhaps just skip to next lurid passage.
“Our life is but as a very little boat tossed on the sea of infinity; it is a small breathing space between the tussle with life at the beginning and the tussle with death at the ending.”
Controversy
Broughton’s book was controversial upon first being published. While many critics lavished great praise upon the writing, detractors were put off by what was considered at the time—the Victorian Era—too frank a depiction of unfettered female sexuality. The following description laden with metaphor was particularly offensive:
“As I make this indecently forward proposal, my voice shakes, and my heart thumps like a steam ram. Dick's head veers round like a weathercock in a high wind.”
Feminism
Critics not put off by such daring description of eroticism could find other reasons not to like the book. Male critics in particular tended to more resistant to the themes of gender equality and the forthright feminism of the narrator.
“`Good‐bye,’ said he, squeezing it till all my fingers seemed crushed into one painful mass. But I bore it like a man; not a groan revealed my agony.”
Sir Hugh
A particularly effective metaphor is used to characterize the character of Sir Hugh. The image is beautifully constructed and in a single instance provides the kind of insight into a character that other writers spend pages trying to replicate.
“For be it known that Sir Hugh was in the habit of keeping a hobby horse, saddled and bridled in his mind's stable; and on this docile animal he frequently cantered up and down, and took healthful exercise. As often as not, this hobby horse was some pet grievance, which went to sleep and underwent decent burial, as long as the hunting and training and liquid-manuring were in full force, but was resurrectionized whenever they were found insufficient to employ all the powers of his intellect.”
