by Twenty five thousand people in Trafalgar Square, and my brain went straight to a century old literary device
Reading about ChessFest’s enormous turnout in Trafalgar Square this month, I found myself thinking back to how frequently eighteenth century political writing reached for chess as a metaphor for statecraft and power, kings and pawns doing considerably more rhetorical work in these texts than the actual game itself ever required.
Why Writers Of This Period Loved The Metaphor
Chess offered eighteenth century political writers a genuinely useful shorthand, a visible hierarchy of pieces with sharply differentiated value and mobility, perfect for arguments about the actual mechanics of power, who moves freely, who gets sacrificed, who remains protected regardless of the board’s overall condition.
A Specific Text That Uses This Device Well
One political tract from this period builds an entire extended argument around the chess metaphor, comparing the treatment of ordinary colonial subjects to expendable pawns sacrificed for the safety of considerably more valuable pieces elsewhere on the board, a comparison that lands with genuine, uncomfortable force even reading it centuries later.
Why This Metaphor Still Works Today
Watching twenty five thousand actual Londoners play real chess in a real square this month, I found the old metaphor’s underlying logic considerably easier to picture properly, real strategic sacrifice, real hierarchy of piece value, translated directly onto an actual board rather than remaining purely abstract political rhetoric.
A Small Confession About My Own Playing
I did not personally attend the event, reading about it from considerably further away, though I have, since encountering the coverage, dug my own old chess set out of storage specifically to think through the political metaphor more concretely myself.
Further Reading
For more of my own reading on eighteenth century political rhetoric, I have written previously at my author page.
Closing Thought
An old political metaphor, suddenly considerably easier to picture thanks to twenty five thousand actual chess players in a London square. More old texts and new relevance at my author page.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com
