Bohemian Rhapsody Literary Devices

Bohemian Rhapsody is one of the most iconic and unusual rock songs of all time - it forgoes the traditional chorus and is instead a wild mix of opera, ballad and hard rock set to a volatile tempo. Written by rock legend Freddie Mercury, Bohemian Rhapsody tells the story of a man who is condemned after committing murder, but it actually offers an insight to Mercury’s struggles with bisexuality. Bohemian Rhapsody is a story about the difficulties of living in society as a homosexual. To illustrate his points, Freddie Mercury uses the story of a murderer as a powerful analogy to address the social implications and condemnation of being a homosexual during his time.
If the lyrics are stripped to the bare minimum and taken very literally, Bohemian

The first is how the tempo and tone change throughout the song. It has a slow, melancholy start until the third section, where the murderer is being judged and it abruptly changes to a fast pace with upbeat opera/hard rock. Then it suddenly transitions back to a melancholy tone that matches the introduction, coming

It starts out with “Is this just real life/Is this just fantasy?/Caught in a landslide/No escape from reality” (Bohemian Rhapsody). In the introduction, both murderer and Mercury are in denial: the murderer about his crime, Mercury about his sexuality. They choose to be confused between the line of reality and fantasy, though they are aware of the truth. The introduction ends with “any way the wind blows doesn’t really matter to me, to me” (Bohemian Rhapsody), an act of indifference to go along with their act of denial. On the other hand, the conclusion goes: “Nothing really matters/Anyone can see/Nothing really matters/Nothing really matters to me/Any way the wind blows” (Bohemian Rhapsody). Though similar to the end of the introduction, the conclusion is an act of true indifference. Note the repetition of the word “nothing” in the conclusion; also, in the introduction there is only apathy towards how “the wind blows”, but the ending is almost nihilistic in stating “nothing really matters” instead. Mercury commits the unforgivable sin of homosexuality. At first he denies and ignores his bleak, difficult future but throughout the song he comes to terms with his inability to change this future and realizes the futility in doing so. Like the murderer, he knows that he has crossed the point of no return from the beginning and is doomed. He can’t change his fate, the same