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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
Act 1, scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Cry Me a River:
In Act 1, Scene 1, Favius rebukes a crowd of commoners for their celebration of Caesar's defeat of Pompey. He hyperbolically instructs them to head to the Tiber and weep until even the streams of the river reach the bank:
Go, go, good countrymen, and for this fault
Assemble all the poor men of your sort,
Draw them to Tiber banks, and weep your tears
Into the channel, till the lowest stream
Do kiss the most exalted shores of all.
Related Themes:
Act 5, scene 5
Explanation and Analysis—The Nod from Nature:
In Act 5, Scene 5, as Julius Caesar draws to a close and Brutus lies dead on the stage, Antony offers his tribute to the tragic hero. Antony uses personification to communicate the depth of his admiration for Brutus:
Unlock with LitCharts A+This was the noblest Roman of them all.
All the conspirators save only he
Did that they did in envy of the great Caesar.
He only in a general honest thought
And common good to all made one of them.
His life was gentle and the elements
So mixed in him that nature might stand up
And say to all the world “This was a man.”
Related Themes:
