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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
Volume 1, Letter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Evelina's Beauty:
In Lady Howard’s letter to Mr. Villars upon meeting Evelina, she extolls all of Evelina’s positive qualities, using hyperboles in the process:
She is a little angel! I cannot wonder that you sought to monopolize her. Neither ought you, at finding it impossible. Her face and person answer my most refined ideas of complete beauty: and this, though a subject of praise less important to you, or to me, than any other, is yet so striking, it is not possible to pass it unnoticed. Had I not known from whom she received her education, I should, at first sight of so perfect a face, have been in pain for her understanding; since it has been long and justly remarked, that folly has ever sought alliance with beauty.
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Volume 1, Letter 24
Explanation and Analysis—The Thorny Paths:
When Evelina is starting to integrate more fully into her life in London, Mr. Villars warns her in a letter about how London is not the right place for her, using a metaphor and a hyperbole in the process:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Alas, my child, the artlessness of your nature, and the simplicity of your education, alike unfit you for the thorny paths of the great and busy world. The supposed obscurity of your birth and situation, makes you liable to a thousand disagreeable adventures. Not only my views, but any hopes for your future life, have ever centered in the country.
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Volume 3, Letter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Evelina Needs Guidance:
After Lord Orville witnesses Evelina in a series of compromising situations, Evelina tries to explain to him that she is not doing anything improper, she just needs guidance on the proper etiquette, using hyperbolic language in the process:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"There is no young creature, my Lord, who so greatly wants, or so earnestly wishes for, the advice and assistance of her friends, as I do; I am new to the world, and unused to acting for myself,—my intentions are never willfully blamable, yet I err perpetually—I have, hitherto, been blessed with the most affectionate of friends, and, indeed, the ablest of men, to guide and instruct me upon every occasion; but he is too distant, now, to be applied to at the moment I want his aid.”
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Volume 3, Letter 17
Explanation and Analysis—Sir John Meeting Evelina:
When Sir John meets Evelina, he is shocked to observe that she looks exactly like him, as this means she is genuinely his daughter—something he has been denying over the course of the novel. As he runs away from her in shock, Sir John uses a pair of hyperboles to express how overwhelmed he feels by her presence:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“Leave me, [Mrs. Selwyn],” cried he, with quickness, “and take care of the poor child;—bid her not think me unkind, tell her I would at this moment plunge a dagger in my heart to serve her,—but she has set my brain on fire, and I can see her no more!” Then, with a violence almost frantic, he ran up stairs.
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