Tailor (Metaphor)
Jack Tanner often speaks in metaphors, and this is one of his first. In Act One, he complains about others' evident desire for him to stay the same, remaining boyishly harmless, even while he grew and changed before their very eyes. In fact, Tanner says, the only person in his life who managed to avoid this type of bias was his tailor, who measured him each time he visited as if having never seen him before. In this speech, the tailor's task of measuring becomes a metaphor for the essential task of moral measurement. All people, Jack implies, should reconsider their preconceptions at every opportunity, the same way that a tailor gathers new data at every opportunity.
Bird (Simile)
Ann describes a hypothetical bird, pressing itself against a thorn in order to make itself sing, as a simile for Octavius's behavior. She does so in order to make Octavius understand her choice not to marry him. Like the bird, Ann argues, Octavius thrives on pain, and is able to produce his best poetry when he is uncomfortable and unhappy. Ann's simile resonates on a more subtle level as well. Octavius, like a singing bird, is capable of producing pleasant-sounding art, but rarely says anything original or important.
The Schoolmistress's Voice (Simile)
This memorable simile comes, not from a character's dialogue, but from George Bernard Shaw's stage directions, which are as rich in poetic language as any other element of this play. As Violet makes her first appearance, Shaw compares her voice to that of a schoolmistress, scolding a group of mischievous girls. This description tells us (or the play's director, as the case may be) all we need to know about Violet's manner. While other characters might like to denigrate her behavior, she has a natural and indisputable authority and never displays a hint of self-doubt. Her attitude, like that of a schoolmistress, might not be appealing or charming to those she has authority over, because it doesn't have to be—other characters listen to her regardless. Shaw chooses, in this simile, to recast every character as female, so that the schoolmistress Violet scolds a group of young girls. This reemphasizes Violet's power by momentarily placing the entire scene in an all-female environment, giving readers a brief opportunity to imagine Violet unrestricted by patriarchal structures.
Bees (Metaphor)
Tanner, drawing on knowledge from a book he's recently read, uses the mating habits of the bee as a metaphor for Ann and Octavius's relationship. Octavius, Tanner points out, thinks that he is in pursuit of Ann and in control of his own situation. However, Tanner insists, Octavius is like a male bee: pursued by the female, who will use him for her own ends and then dispose of him. Tanner, however, does not quite manage to apply his own metaphor correctly, since he fails to realize that Ann is pursuing him as well as Octavius, albeit for slightly different purposes. While Ann wants to keep Octavius on the hook and wait for as long as she can before disappointing him, she wants to marry Tanner to "trap" him the way that the queen bee traps the male bees she mates with. It is only later, when Henry Straker points out Ann's designs, that Tanner reconsiders his metaphor, exclaiming, "Then I... am the bee."
Pug on a String (Simile)
After Violet soothes Hector Malone, Sr.'s worries about her marriage to his son, Tanner remarks with derision that Malone is "led like a pug dog on a string by the first girl who takes the trouble to despise him." The image of a pug makes Malone's servile attitude appear more pathetic and funnier, since pugs are small, non-threatening dogs. The metaphor suggests that the billionaire Malone is a bit like a pet. He lives a life of ease and has all of his needs met, but he has very little integrity and isn't taken seriously. And, as Tanner points out, he's willing to follow Violet precisely because she dislikes him, as if, like a pet dog, he simply craves attention of any kind.
