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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
Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Jane's Letters:
Early in the novel, Emma tells Harriet about her feelings toward Jane Fairfax, using hyperbole to describe how beloved Jane is:
“Every letter from her is read forty times over; her compliments to all friends go round and round again; and if she does but send her aunt the pattern of a stomacher, or knit a pair of garters for her grandmother, one hears of nothing else for a month. I wish Jane Fairfax very well; but she tires me to death.”
Related Themes:
Chapter 47
Explanation and Analysis—Evil:
Near the end of the novel, Emma learns that Harriet is in love with Knightley—and believes Knightley to possibly love her in return—and Emma has also realized that she is in love with Knightley. As she reacts internally to these huge reveals, Emma uses hyperbole:
Unlock with LitCharts A+With insufferable vanity had she believed herself in the secret of everybody's feelings; with unpardonable arrogance proposed to arrange everybody's destiny. She was proved to have been universally mistaken; and she had not quite done nothing—for she had done mischief. She had brought evil on Harriet, on herself, and she too much feared, on Mr. Knightley.
Related Themes:
Chapter 49
Explanation and Analysis—She Was Everything:
When Emma learns that Knightley is in love with her and not Harriet (as she had previously assumed), she uses hyperbolic language in her internal thoughts:
Unlock with LitCharts A+While he spoke, Emma’s mind was most busy, and, with all the wonderful velocity of thought, had been able—and yet without losing a word—to catch and comprehend the exact truth of the whole; to see that Harriet’s hopes had been entirely groundless, a mistake, a delusion, as complete a delusion as any of her own—that Harriet was nothing; that she was every thing herself.
Related Themes:
