# Two Shows explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

The narrator reflects on a showman exhibiting a 'School of Educated Apes,' observing that the human spectators—hoodlums, loafers, actresses, and critics—are themselves half the show, unconsciously revealing their own simian nature through their behavior and pretensions.

## Themes in this chapter

### Hypocrisy and Corruption

The spectators, including critics and actresses, are depicted as hypocrites who judge the apes while embodying the same base instincts.

### Nature and Artifice

The contrast between the 'educated' apes and the natural, unrefined behavior of the human audience highlights the artificiality of social pretensions.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The narrator observes the show and comments on the irony of human spectators judging the apes.

## Key lines

> To view the school of apes these creatures go, Unconscious that themselves are half the show.

The human spectators come to see the apes, unaware that their own behavior is equally ridiculous and on display.

_This line encapsulates the chapter's central irony: the audience is as much a spectacle as the apes._

> The critic waiting, like a hungry pup, To write the school—perhaps to eat it—up, As chance or luck occasion may reveal To earn a dollar or maraud a meal.

The critic is portrayed as a scavenger, ready to praise or attack the show for personal gain.

_This satirizes the mercenary nature of critics and their lack of genuine artistic standards._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters/two-shows
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters