Figures of Speech through the Looking Glass of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Have you had trouble understanding the plethora of figures of speech used by poets and authors? Whichever your answer is, this article will give you an entertaining insight into them as used by your favourite characters in your favourite movies/shows. Figures of speech might not seem as scary as they do when your favourite character uses them!
Now, what are figures of speech? Languages can be used in different ways, sometimes we use them literally and sometimes we use them figuratively. Sometimes when we say “What wonderful weather!” when it’s sunny outside, we mean that it indeed is wonderful outside, but when we use it on a rainy day, do we really mean it? Not really. We use it as sarcasm, as a way to show it is, as a matter of fact, horrible weather. Figures of speech are such expressions and devices used to make a dramatic or stylised display of words we speak or write. Mostly it is used in stories and poems, rather than in spoken language. However, you will be surprised to find how much figurative language truly is infused in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and how our favourite characters use it to make the stories and ideas more meaningful, closer to our hearts or create humour and sarcasm.
Now let’s look at the commonly used figures of speech in literature!
- Metaphor: Let’s start with the first and the most common figure of speech: Metaphor. It is a device used to show comparison or bring out symbolism. Here two unlikely things are compared, and similar attributes of two completely different things are shown. Have you come across the phrase used by Loki in Marvel Studio’s Loki series: “Love is a dagger”? He goes on to explain it as “It’s a weapon to be wielded far away or up close. You can see yourself in it. It’s beautiful until it makes you bleed.” He compares love to be a weapon, he says that is beautiful, and it is reciprocated or reflected back until it makes one hurt. Here two unlikely things, an abstract concept: love and a concrete item: “dagger” are compared to show the negative connotations of “love”.
2. Simile: In terms of figures of speech that show comparison, we move to the next device, which is a simile. It is used to make explicit comparisons between two things. The difference between simile and metaphor is that simile always uses “as” or “like” to make the comparison between two things or concepts. Let’s look at the quote used by Bruce Banner in Infinity War, “Broke up? Like a band? Like The Beatles?” when Tony Stark says “The Avengers broke up.” Here, Bruce is comparing the Avengers, a group of superheroes to a group of musicians, a boyband. Here, a reference to such a musical boyband, The Beatles is made.
3. Imagery: Imagery is a device used to create a concept or idea that appeals to at least one of our senses. Imagery can be divided into: auditory, tactile, visual, olfactory and gustatory.
a) Auditory imagery refers to the use of descriptive language that appeals to one’s sense of hearing.
b) Tactile imagery refers to the sense of touch as created by descriptive language. In Infinity War, Gamora touches Thor’s biceps and describes it to be made of “Cotati metal fibres” thus explaining the texture of the same.
c) Visual imagery is used to give a visual representation of a situation or a thing so that the viewers or readers get an idea of what it would look like. When Natasha uses the word “green” to refer to Bruce Banner changing into his alter-ego Hulk, by saying “You’re not gonna turn green?”
d) Olfactory imagery refers to appealing to one’s sense of smell. We see this being used by Peter Parker in Infinity War when he describes his “new suit” to be smelling like “a new car”, we get an idea of what it smells like.
e) Gustatory imagery appeals to one’s sense of taste. Here, flavours of taste are mentioned to give the audience or readers an idea of what something tastes like. In, Avengers: Infinity War, when Tony Starks mentions Ben and Jerry’s ice cream named after him, Dr Strange replies that it is “a bit chalky”. Here, the usage of the word “chalky” gives us an idea about the texture or taste of the ice cream.
4. Personification: This poetic device refers to giving a human-like quality to an inanimate object. An abstract quality is used to describe the way an inanimate object behaves and it is given a human-like ability. Some come examples in literature are “Death lays his icy hand on kings”, here “death” is given cold hands which it lays on kings, which means death approaches all men the same, it doesn’t discriminate between kings and beggars. In Avengers: Infinity War, we see this conversation taking place between the Vision and Wanda:
Wanda Maximoff: Vis? Is it the stone again?
Vision: It’s as if it’s speaking to me.
Wanda Maximoff: What does it say?
Here, the Vision is saying that the “stone” is speaking to him. However, it is not “speaking” to him like a human, but, given its powerful status, it is responding to Thanos and his company looking for the stone.
5. Onomatopoeia: This figure of speech describes the actual sound of a thing or animal with the use of such words that evoke the sounds. For example, the “tick”ing of the clock, the “meow”ing of the cat, the “buzz”ing of the bees. We can find one such reference in the Avengers: Age of Ultron where James Rhodes uses the word “boom” to describe the sound of his dropping a tank.
6. Rhetorical question: In a rhetorical question, a question is asked not for the purpose to get an answer, but the answer is already known to the speaker. He/she asks it to make a point. In Thor: Ragnarok, Loki asks Thor, “How am I supposed to know?” Here, he does not demand an answer, he is making the point that he does not indeed know about the whereabouts of their father by uttering this question.
7. Metonymy: Metonymy is a device that is used to describe an object, person or concept with the use of another word that is related to it. For example, “crown” refers to the “King” or “Queen”. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tony Stark wishes to have a “suit of armour around the world”. Here, the “suit of armour” denotes robots, or weapons to protect the world from threats. Thus, it uses one idea to represent another related to it.
8. Paradox: A paradox refers to such a device that uses two contradicting ideas placed together, but when we look into the ideas, they make sense or seem true even though they contradict each other. There are many such examples in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one such example is “What is grief if not love persevering?” as said by the Vision. Here, the Vision uses two contradicting ideas “love” and “grief” to show that grief is only caused due to losing a person who is loved by us. Another example would be “Men of peace create engines of war,” as indicated by Ultron. Here, he means that men wish for peace but to maintain peace they make weapons for war. They both reflect the truthfulness of the modern world.
9. Oxymoron: Oxymoron can be considered to be a shortened paradox. Here too, two contrasting ideas are placed side by side. It occurs between two words placed side by side or close to each other. One example of such a device is Vision commenting “It’s terribly well-balanced” about Thor’s hammer. Here, “terribly” and “well” are placed side by side to make a point and tell that it is “extremely well-balanced”.
10. Antithesis: An antithesis is a device that is used to present two contrasting ideas side by side. However, these ideas do not oppose or contradict each other when we look at them. They are two opposing ideas placed together to prove a point. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ultron comments that “Stark asked for a saviour and settled for a slave.” He is talking about the Vision, a “synthezoid” (a type of synthetically and organically designed android, made as human-like as possible), who was made to save the Earth but he acts as a “slave” in Ultron’s opinion.
11. Allusion: This device references a concept or thing that is not related to the text. It is expected that the readers or in such cases, watchers have an idea about what is being referred to. Generally in texts, writers or poets, allude to the Bible or other religious texts, as well as characters from the works of other famous writers or poets. In Doctor Strange, Stephen asks Wong if he has a surname, or his name is simply like “Beyonce” or “Adele”. Both the name refers to the singers of pop culture, who are renowned enough to go by their first names only. Similarly, when Bruce asks Tony to explain if the Avengers “broke up like a boyband? Like Beatles?”, it is expected that the watchers know that The Beatles was an extremely popular boyband who disbanded even after their massive worldwide success.
12. Symbolism: Symbolism allows a writer to create a poetic or symbolic description of a concept, thing or emotion. For example, red symbolises danger in some works, the dove symbolises peace, chain symbolises imprisonment. When Ultron says, “I had strings, but now I’m free”, he means that he was controlled and he no longer will be, as the android body is destroyed yet he lives on in the world of the internet, thus he is free from being controlled. He can be compared to a virus that moves about freely and attacks computers.
13. Hyperbole: Hyperbole is figurative language that is used to show exaggeration to emphasise a point. In Avengers, Age of Ultron, Tony says, “Oh, really? You two knew each other? He never mentioned that. Maybe only a thousand times.” When he says this about his father talking about knowing Steve Rogers, does he actually mean his father said it thousand times? No, but it was said too many times and it is exaggerated by the use of the term “thousand times”.
14. Pun: Pun is described as a “play on words”. In this device, a word is used in such a way that two or more meanings can be found. It is generally used to produce humour in a text, however, sometimes, it is also used for serious connotations. The Vision, while rebuked by Ultron, replies, “Well, I was born yesterday.” “Not to be born yesterday” is an idiom that means someone is not naive or foolish to believe in something deceiving. In this context, Ultron is an android that was created the day before this conversation took place, so, he uses it to agree with Ultron when he calls him “naive” as well as to show that he was indeed “born” the day before.
15. Anti Climax: This device is used to show a sudden change in a situation from a serious to a disappointing or silly one. Where the situation is expected to build up to a serious climax or ending, a foolish or disappointing idea is proposed or a similar situation happens. Take a look at this conversation between Tony Stark and Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War:
Peter Parker: I can’t go to Germany!
Tony Stark: Why?
Peter Parker: I got . . . homework.
Here, Tony is recruiting Peter to work in a fight between the greatest superheroes on the Earth, and Peter turns it down by saying he has something as trivial as homework!
Between the Vision’s philosophical approach to life and Tony’s snarky remarks, I hope this article clarifies any doubt you had in figures of speech! There are multiple such devices used all over the Marvel Cinematic Universe projects. Next time, you rewatch them, keep an eye out for them and try to note how many of these devices you recognise!
