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Definition of Hyperbole
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations intended to emphasize a point... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements... read full definition
Key Examples in Edward II
Act 1, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Hero and Leander:
Piers Gaveston, a “favourite” of King Edward II who had previously been exiled by his father, uses both hyperbole and allusion in responding to the news that his banishment from England has been lifted upon Edward’s succession to the throne. Gaveston says:
What greater bliss can hap to Gaveston
Than live and be the favourite of a king?
Sweet prince, I come; these, these thy amorous lines
Might have enforced me to have swum from France,
And like Leander gasped upon the sand,
So thou wouldst smile and take me in thy arms.
Act 1, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—Midas and Proteus :
Mortimer uses hyperbole and a number of classical allusions in describing Gaveston’s wasteful and extravagant lifestyle in conversation with his uncle, Mortimer Senior:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Uncle, his wanton humour grieves not me,
But this I scorn, that one so basely born
Should by his sovereign’s favour grow so pert
And riot it with the treasure of the realm.
While soldiers mutiny for want of pay,
He wears a lord’s revenue on his back,
And Midas-like he jets it in the court
With base outlandish cullions at his heels,
Whose proud fantastic liveries make such show
As if that Proteus, god of shapes, appeared.
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