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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
Hyperbole
Explanation and Analysis—Exaggerated Narration:
Throughout the novel, Robinson consistently describes his experiences with hyperbolic language. He frequently uses superlatives: his father uses the "most affectionate manner" to persuade him; the storm leaves his body "most inexpressibly sick"; the clear sea was "the most delightful [sight] that ever [he] saw"; his decision to leave Brasil for Guinea was "the most preposterous thing that ever man in such circumstances could be guilty of"; the rocks that got him onto the island recovered him "from the most desperate hopeless condition that ever [he] had been in, in all [his] life."
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—All-Powerful Ocean:
In the second chapter of the novel, Robinson uses personification and metaphor to exaggerate the might of the ocean:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I expected every wave would have swallowed us up, and that every time the ship fell down, as I thought, in the trough or hollow of the sea, we should never rise more.
Chapter 15
Explanation and Analysis—Barbarous Spaniards:
Robinson discusses the barbarity of the Spanish Empire a few times in the novel. Like many Englishmen of his era, he was convinced that the Spanish Empire was much more violent and much less just than the English empire. This conviction shapes his decision-making at certain points.
For example, in Chapter 15, he dissuades himself from going on a killing spree of the "savages," because that would make him just as bad as the Spaniards. He describes the conduct of the Spaniards hyperbolically, with more passion than he normally tends to use:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"That this would justify the conduct of the Spaniards in all their barbarities practis’d in America, and where they destroyed millions of these people [...] and that the rooting them out of the country, is spoken of with the utmost abhorrence and detestation, by even the Spaniards themselves, at this time; and by all other Christian nations of Europe, as a meer butchery, a bloody and unnatural piece of cruelty, unjustifiable either to God or man; and such, as for which the very name of a Spaniard is reckon’d to be frightful and terrible to all people of humanity, or of Christian compassion."
Related Themes:
Chapter 22
Explanation and Analysis—Barbarous Spaniards:
Robinson discusses the barbarity of the Spanish Empire a few times in the novel. Like many Englishmen of his era, he was convinced that the Spanish Empire was much more violent and much less just than the English empire. This conviction shapes his decision-making at certain points.
For example, in Chapter 15, he dissuades himself from going on a killing spree of the "savages," because that would make him just as bad as the Spaniards. He describes the conduct of the Spaniards hyperbolically, with more passion than he normally tends to use:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"That this would justify the conduct of the Spaniards in all their barbarities practis’d in America, and where they destroyed millions of these people [...] and that the rooting them out of the country, is spoken of with the utmost abhorrence and detestation, by even the Spaniards themselves, at this time; and by all other Christian nations of Europe, as a meer butchery, a bloody and unnatural piece of cruelty, unjustifiable either to God or man; and such, as for which the very name of a Spaniard is reckon’d to be frightful and terrible to all people of humanity, or of Christian compassion."
Related Themes:
