There is characterized the method of demetaphorization in the domestic satirical drama of the second half of the XIX – beginning of the XX centuries. Based on the example of the plays by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. A.V. Sukhovo-Kobylin, M.A. Bulgakov, N.R. Erdman there is shown that the incarnated metaphor eventually transforms into a fiction tendency.