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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
Key Examples in Sense and Sensibility
Chapter 28
Explanation and Analysis—Every Feature:
About mid-way through the novel, when Marianne firmly believes that Willoughby is going to propose to her, he starts to ignore her letters and, at a party in London, ignores her in person. Austen uses hyperbole to capture just how devastated Marianne is when Willoughby fails to acknowledge her at this event:
“Pray, pray be composed,” cried Elinor, “and do not betray what you feel to every body present. Perhaps he has not observed you yet.” This however was more than she could believe herself, and to be composed at such a moment was not only beyond the reach of Marianne, it was beyond her wish. She sat in an agony of impatience, which affected every feature.
Related Themes:
Chapter 45
Explanation and Analysis—The Most Worthless:
Near the end of the novel, Austen uses hyperbole to show how quickly—and extremely—Elinor’s opinion of Willoughby shifts after hearing the story behind his treatment of Marianne:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Willoughby, he, whom only half an hour ago she had abhorred as the most worthless of men, Willoughby, in spite of all his faults, excited a degree of commiseration for the sufferings produced by them, which made her think of him as now separated for ever from her family with a tenderness, a regret, rather in proportion, as she soon acknowledged within herself—to his wishes than to his merits.
Related Themes:
Chapter 46
Explanation and Analysis—Every Field and Tree:
As the Dashwood family returns to Barton after many months away, Austen uses hyperbole to capture the depth of Marianne’s pain about returning to the place where she and Willoughby fell in love:
Unlock with LitCharts A+As they approached Barton, indeed, and entered on scenes of which every field and every tree brought some peculiar, some painful recollection, she grew silent and thoughtful, and turning away her face from their notice, sat earnestly gazing through the window. But here, Elinor could neither wonder nor blame; and when she saw, as she assisted Marianne from the carriage, that she had been crying, she saw only an emotion too natural in itself to raise anything less tender than pity, and in its unobtrusiveness entitled to praise.
Related Themes:
