Simile and metaphor layer on comment and reveal point of view, like jokes made half seriously.
Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
Draws on apace. Four happy days bring in
Another moon. But oh, methinks how slow
This old moon wanes! She lingers my desires,
Like to a stepdame or a dowager
Long withering out a young man’s revenue.
– Theseus, Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1:1:1-6
[Now, beautiful Hippolyta, the hour of our wedding is speeding closer. In four joyful days there will be a new crescent moon, and we will marry. But oh! The old moon seems to me to shrink away so slowly! It delays me from getting what I desire, just like an old rich widow will force her stepson to wait forever to receive his inheritance. (litcharts.com)]
Theseus is marrying Hippolyta for her land and riches. He is the “stepson” waiting for his “inheritance”.
And more, statements early in a work raise expectations for statements later, such as what will be stated about patriarchy in MND. And as such, what simile, metaphor and jokes shall follow this?
Shane Zimmer Art 