Sophie's First Sight of the Castle
She looked up and saw Wizard Howl's castle right down on the hillside, above the town, so near it seemed to be sitting on the chimneys. Blue flames were shooting out of all four of the castle's turrets, bringing balls of blue fire with them that exploded high in the sky, quite horrendously.
This is the first introduction in the novel to Howl and his castle and the images created are all related to fire, using both sound and visual images to show how ominous the castle appeared to be. It seems to be preying on the town which reflects the way the townsfolk feel about Howl and the fire and flames being blue is a direct reference to Calcifer the fire demon.
The Wizard's Castle
It was quite a small room, with heavy black beams in the ceiling. By daylight it was amazingly dirty. The stones of the floor were stained and greasy, ash was piled within the fender and cobwebs hung in dusty droops from the beams. There was a layer of dust on the skull. Sophie absently wiped it off as she went to peer into the sink beside the workbench. She shuddered at the pink-and-gray slime in it and the white slime dripping from the pump above it.
This image both paints a vivid picture of all the things that would be expected in a wizard's workroom, like a skull and cobwebs and slime, but frames it as a place that is just plain dirty and unhygienic rather than mystical and spooky. The image that Sophie is seeing is not really frightening her with its sorcery but repulsing her with its lack of housekeeping.
Howl's Bathroom
In some ways it was a bathroom you might normally find only in a palace, full of luxuries such as an indoor toilet, a shower stall, an immense bath with clawed feet, and mirrors on every wall. But it was even dirtier than the other room.Sophie winced from the toilet, flinched at the color of the bath, recoiled from the greenweed growing in the shower and quite easily avoided looking at her shriveled shape in the mirrors because the glass was plastered with blobs and runnels of nameless substances.
This is extremely clever imagery by the author as it paints a visual image of the magical elements in the bathroom, such as a bath that has clawed feet, and mirrors that are often involved in sorcery, as well as green weed reminiscent of spells, but the images also speak to our sense of smell as well as through Sophie's physical reactions to the dirt and the resulting creation of new substances we can almost smell what the bathroom must be like with is weed and slime. This double image shows Howl both in the way he wants people to see him and in the way he actually is.
The Kingdom
Beyond him Sophie had glimpses of a coach waiting in a street full of sumptuous houses covered with painted carvings and towers and spires and domes beyond that, of splendor she had barely before imagined.
Once more the author paints a vivid visual image but this time it is of a rich and beautiful skyline and nothing but beauty and obvious luxury. The splendor seems to be layer upon layer so that our senses are charmed over and over again with yet another vision more sumptuous than the last. This is also an interesting description because it contrasts so greatly with the image of squalor at Howl's castle.
Howl's State of Depression
She scooped up loads of ash and dumped them in the biggest pools of slime. It hissed violently. The room filled with steam and smelled worse than ever. Sophie furled up her sleeves, bent her back to get a good purchase on the Wizard's slimy knees, and pushed Howl, stool and all, toward the bathroom.
This description of Howl when he is in a depressed state and sulking by allowing himself to turn to slime, appeals to our senses of vision, hearing and smell all at the same time; the steam is making vision blurry and this adds to he feeling of the slime. The ashes hiss and the slime is squelchy and which provides a sort of background track to the action of trying to snap him out of his funk.
The Witch and Howl Fight
Two clouds were hanging in the air, way out to sea, on the other side of the harbor wall, the only two clouds in the calm blue sky. It was quite easy to see them. It was equally easy to see the dark patch of storm raging on between the clouds, flinging up great, white-topped waves.
The author paints a vivid picture of a violent storm representing the evil of the Witch and the anger of Howl which is juxtaposed against the calm and pleasant blue that it is replacing. The author also makes use of color imagery to portray the fight and its violence.
