"Puppet!" why so? Ay, that way goes the game.
Now I perceive that she hath made compare
Between our statures; she hath urg’d her height,
And with her personage, her tall personage,
Her height, forsooth, she hath prevail’d with him.
And are you grown so high in his esteem
Because I am so dwarfish and so low?
How low am I, thou painted maypole? Speak!
How low am I? I am not yet so low
But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.
– William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 3, Scene 2. The war of the insults by metaphor continues between Hermia and Helena, as Hermia responds to Helena’s "puppet" jibe. She thinks Helena is making fun of her short height. In the escalating quarrel between the two, she uses an uncomplimentary metaphor as she labels the taller Helena a "painted beanpole." Relations between the childhood friends have hit an all-time low.