<span>The purpose of the figurative language in this excerpt </span>from The Crisis, Number I is to make the audience feel that being a self-centered and a person who refuses to speak about anything for the good of the common people is cruel and cold hearted. It is shown in this phrase "curse his cowardice who shrinks back at a time when a little might have saved the whole".
D; Brueghel is making a statement about indifference.
Gregory sees<span> two </span>Montague servants<span> approaching, and discusses with </span>Sampson<span>the best way to provoke them into a fight without breaking the law. </span>Sampson<span> bites his thumb at the </span>Montagues<span>—a highly insulting gesture.</span>
