Braddon describes the beauty of Audley Court in the hyperbolic language her readers soon learn is typical for passages concerning the house. In so doing, she aligns the house's appeal with Lucy's own charms, intermingling the two:
A glorious old place. A place that visitors fell in raptures with; feeling a yearning wish to have done with life, and to stay there forever, staring into the cool fish-ponds and counting the bubbles as the roach and carp rose to the surface of the water.
The use of hyperbole in describing visitors' reactions as "falling in raptures" and harboring a "yearning wish to [...] stay there forever" when they come to Audley Court underscores the almost magnetic allure of the mansion. Such intense reactions aren't just about the physical beauty of the place but hint at an allure that's too perfect, almost unnaturally so. This excessive charm mirrors Lucy's own seductive appeal and the life she crafts for herself. Just as visitors are seemingly entrapped by the estate's beauty, many characters in the novel are similarly captivated by the mistress of the house.
The term "raptures" indicates that the visitors are not just impressed, but emotionally overtaken by the house's charm. This reaction can be paralleled to the way characters in the story are ensnared by Lucy's beguiling personality. They gaze at her like they gaze at the "bubbling fish-ponds."
Furthermore, the desire Braddon details here to "have done with life" and get lost in the simple act of "counting the bubbles" suggests that Audley Court offers visitors a sense of escapism, just as Lucy's beauty and charm offer an escape for those around her. Yet, as the story unfolds, this beauty and allure retreat to display a deeper and darker reality on both fronts.
Lucy’s beauty and ability to attract people is regularly referred to in ways that make it seem almost supernatural. Here, as Lucy sits painting and talking to Mrs. Dawson, Braddon uses hyperbolic language and a metaphor referring to an angel’s halo to emphasize its power:
The governess lifted her head from its stooping attitude, and stared wonderingly at her employer, shaking back a shower of curls. They were the most wonderful curls in the world—soft and feathery, always floating away from her face, and making a pale halo round her head when the sunlight shone through them.
Although Lucy is always described as ravishing, it seems unlikely that her hair is more wonderful than that of anyone else on the planet. Here, the hyperbolic statement, "the most wonderful curls in the world," serves to exaggerate Lucy's beauty to emphasize its constant draw. Even if her hair isn’t actually a cloud of "the most wonderful curls in the world," that’s how Mrs. Dawson perceives them. This exaggerated language establishes the younger woman’s beauty as something beyond the ordinary. She is seemingly irresistible, even to this gossiping older woman. In moments like this, the author’s use of hyperbole points to the irresistible pull Lucy’s appearance exerts. The passage assists in building a plausible foundation for the extreme heights to which beauty raises the soon-to-be Lady Audley. It also provides a rationale to explain some of her questionable behavior toward others.
The metaphor that her hair creates "a pale halo round her head" when it’s illuminated by sunlight is another step in this direction. By comparing her curls to a halo—a symbol traditionally associated with saints and angels—the author implies that Lucy’s appearance is a vital part of her quest to seem innocent. It’s especially relevant at this early moment in the novel because Mrs. Dawson has just suggested Lucy could make Sir Michael Audley marry her if she wanted. Because Lucy looks so innocent, people are inclined to think she has pure intentions, as Mrs. Dawson does here. Rather than being a true reflection of her character, Lucy’s angelic “halo” is a disguise that allows her to avoid accountability and suspicion for her choices.
In this segment of Lady Audley's Secret, the narrative uses hyperbolic language and dramatic irony to talk about Lady Audley's beauty and how it has made her selfish and self-obsessed:
Did she remember the day in which that fairy dower of beauty had first taught her to be selfish and cruel, indifferent to the joys and sorrows of others, cold-hearted and capricious, greedy of admiration, exacting and tyrannical with that petty woman's tyranny which is the worst of despotism?
The phrase "worst of despotism" is an example of hyperbole because it’s an amplification of Lucy’s situations beyond a degree that’s reasonable. By saying Lady Audley is behaving like a “despot”(which means a ruler with total power who can be cruel and selfish) Braddon emphasizes the idea that the access and ease her beauty has provided her with have ultimately corrupted her.
The irony here is that, while readers know Lady Audley has a deceptive and even malicious side, most characters in the novel only see her as gentle and pretty. This difference between what readers know and what other characters see highlights how dangerous her charm can be. While beauty is usually seen as a good thing, for Lucy it functions mainly as a cover for her true, self-interested intentions. Because her beauty has won her so much praise and so many allowances, she can be “greedy of admiration” and “tyrannical.” The narrator wonders if she can remember a time before she was beautiful, or if she can understand that her beauty is not a positive force on her personality.
