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.
It is quite unlikely that Marianne’s impatience and anxiety actually “affected every feature” of hers, but this description successfully communicates both her love of Willoughby (and fear that they may not end up engaged) as well as her sensibility and commitment to expressing her extreme emotions, even while in public.
This moment also juxtaposes Marianne’s extreme emotionality (as shown on her face and in her entire disposition) with Elinor’s propensity to control her emotions, and her desire that others do so as well. She begs Marianne to “be composed,” showing her commitment to “sense” (or reason and moderation) in the face of Marianne’s “sensibility.”
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:
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.
Only half an hour ago he was “the most worthless of men” (an obvious exaggeration) and now—after learning that Willoughby did love Marianne and intend to marry her, but was forced by financial circumstance to find a wealthy fiancée, and was then forced by said fiancée into writing a letter to Marianne stating his lack of affection—Elinor thinks of him with a tenderness that she herself acknowledges is much more “in proportion” to how Willoughby has behaved.
This moment underlines how, despite all claims to the contrary, Elinor is also prone to extreme emotions; like Marianne, she can be “sensible” (or sensitive) when the situation warrants it. It also shows how it is impossible to truly understand a person’s character from their outward actions alone. Elinor considered Willoughby to be “the most worthless of men” because she did not know all of the external factors that contributed to his behavior and, now that she knows the truth, she is able to see how Willoughby’s suffering and tough situation—rather than cruel character—are behind his treatment of Marianne.
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:
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.
Though it is unlikely that “every field and tree” reminds Marianne of her grief, this hyperbolic exaggeration effectively shows readers how much she loved Willoughby and how, even after some time has passed, she continues to deeply miss him. This small interior moment also shows how, even near the end of the novel, Marianne has not lost her characteristic “sensibility” (or emotional sensitivity) even as she has also gained some sense in realizing that Willoughby was not the man for her.
At the same time—as the passage goes on to imply—Marianne proves she is able to feel these extreme emotions without letting them take control of her. Elinor, who is much more controlled with her emotions, notices that Marianne has been crying as they enter Barton but considers it a “natural emotion” given the situation, and even has the impulse to praise Marianne for the “unobtrusiveness” (or subtlety) with which she expressed her sadness in this understandably morose moment.
