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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 5
Explanation and Analysis—Marriage as Manipulation:
In a conversation between Mary and her aunt Mrs. Grant, Mary uses hyperbolic language to communicate her cynicism about marriage:
“There is not one in a hundred of either sex, who is not taken in when they marry. Look where I will, I see that it is so; and I feel that it must be so, when I consider that it is, of all transactions, the one in which people expect most from others, and are least honest themselves.”
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Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Mary Offending Everyone:
When Mary is describing to Edmund her struggle in finding a farmer who would lend her their horse and cart during harvest season (so she could transport her harp from the city), she uses a hyperbole to describe their reaction:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“To want a horse and cart in the country seemed impossible, so I told my maid to speak for one directly; and as I cannot look out of my dressing-closet without seeing one farm yard, nor walk in the shrubbery without passing another, I thought it would be only ask and have, and was rather grieved that I could not give the advantage to all. Guess my surprise, when I found that I had been asking the most unreasonable, most impossible thing in the world, had offended all the farmers, all the labourers, all the hay in the parish.”
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Chapter 17
Explanation and Analysis—Nothing Could Subdue:
When Julia is sulking after not being chosen to play opposite Henry in their production of Lovers’ Vows, Austen uses a hyperbole to capture her despair:
Unlock with LitCharts A+She either sat in gloomy silence, wrapt in such gravity as nothing could subdue, no curiosity touch, no wit amuse; or allowing the attentions of Mr. Yates, was talking with forced gaiety to him alone, and ridiculing the acting of the others.
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Chapter 27
Explanation and Analysis—Edmund's Letter:
When Fanny reads over the beginning of a letter Edmund was writing to her before she interrupted him—in which he simply communicates that he bought her a gold chain—her hyperbolic reflections show how deeply she loves him:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Two lines more prized had never fallen from the pen of the most distinguished author— never more completely blessed the researches of the fondest biographer. The enthusiasm of a woman’s love is even beyond the biographer’s. To her, the handwriting itself, independent of anything it may convey, is a blessedness. Never were such characters cut by any other human being as Edmund’s commonest handwriting gave!
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Chapter 48
Explanation and Analysis—Limits of Language:
When Edmund is reflecting at the end of the novel on his feelings for Fanny (and hers for him), Austen uses hyperbolic language to capture his joy:
Unlock with LitCharts A+His happiness in knowing himself to have been so long the beloved of such a heart, must have been great enough to warrant any strength of language in which he could cloathe it to her or to himself; it must have been a delightful happiness! But there was happiness elsewhere which no description can reach. Let no one presume to give the feelings of a young woman on receiving the assurance of that affection of which she has scarcely allowed herself to entertain a hope.
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