Conrad employs hyperbole and a metaphor referring to a basket to unveil the Professor's belief that anarchists and revolutionaries are actually very similar. As the Professor speaks to Ossipon, he declares that:
"You revolutionists [...] are the slaves of the social convention, which is afraid of you; slaves of it as much as the very police that stands up in the defense of that convention. Clearly you are, since you want to revolutionize it. It governs your thought, of course, and your action too, and thus neither your thought nor your action can ever be conclusive […] The terrorist and the police officer both come from the same basket. Revolution, legality—counter moves in the same game […] at bottom identical.”
This remark displays the Professor's disdain for both the other anarchists and the police officers, positing that England’s “social convention” is inherently flawed. He believes that revolutionaries and police officers alike are trapped within its confines. The Professor doesn’t think that anything but true chaos and destruction will change anything. The idea of “revolutionizing” the “social convention” doesn’t appeal to him, as it would just perpetuate the convention itself. The hyperbolic term "slaves" as he uses it amplifies the idea that both groups are inescapably in service of “social convention,” even if their roles and intentions differ. Of course, neither group is actually “enslaved” by anything. The Professor uses this hyperbole to emphasize how intensely he thinks Britain's social world controls everyone.
Conrad uses the metaphor of the "same basket" to underscore the inherent similarities between anarchists, revolutionaries, and police officers. By saying that “the terrorist and the policeman come from the same basket,” the Professor is suggesting that they are both obsessed with “social convention.” Even if their goals are different, their motivation is interchangeable. Society is just a "game" with "counter moves" to the Professor. To him, the conflict between the police and the anarchists emphasizes the cyclical, never-ending, and futile nature of “social convention” itself.
As the Professor walks around London, the narrator uses simile and hyperbolic description to paint a picture of the city's overwhelming human mass. The Professor feels intensely oppressed by the crush of people and buildings:
He was in a long, straight street, peopled by a mere fraction of an immense multitude; but all round him, on and on, even to the limits of the horizon hidden by the enormous piles of bricks, he felt the mass of mankind mighty in its numbers. They swarmed numerous like locusts, industrious like ants, thoughtless like a natural force, pushing on blind and orderly and absorbed, impervious to sentiment, to logic, to terror, too, perhaps.
In this depiction of London, Conrad uses simile to compare the throngs of people to "locusts" and "ants." These comparisons achieve two major effects. Firstly, by equating the people to locusts, Conrad emphasizes their overwhelming number and their potential destructiveness. Locusts, which descend on crops to eat them and move in huge swarms, can decimate every leaf from an entire landscape in hours. Ants, similarly, pack themselves into their enormous numbers, climbing all over each other as they work industriously away at their goals. Here, Conrad is implying that the “blind, orderly” enormity of the crowd of living people around Verloc makes him feel overwhelmed and insignificant.
Secondly, by comparing the Londoners to ants, Conrad underscores the idea that the city’s full of incessant industry and single-minded purpose. To anarchists like the Professor, however, those things come at the cost of individuality. Ants work in a highly organized manner and are absolutely relentless in the pursuit of their goals. Through this simile, Conrad conveys a feeling of relentless, unending labor in London. Moreover, these comparisons also strip the people around the Professor of their human attributes, intensifying his sense of alienation from the population of the capitol.
Conrad's use of hyperbolic description in this passage further emphasizes the overwhelming nature of London's human mass. By suggesting that this mass of living things continues "on and on, even to the limits of the horizon," he gives the reader an image of an almost endless sea of humanity, so vast that it's nearly incomprehensible. The descriptors of the buildings’ enormous size, coupled with the relentless movement of people "pushing on blind and orderly and absorbed,” point to the Professor's claustrophobia and unease. Conrad’s audience is drawn into the terrorist's perspective, feeling the oppressive weight of the city's huge population.
The narrator uses hyperbole to draw the reader close to the Assistant Commissioner's feelings of annoyance at Inspector Heat’s incompetence. After Heat recounts what he’s discovered while investigating the London explosion, the Assistant Commissioner barely looks at him:
And still the Assistant Commissioner did not turn away from the darkness outside, as vast as a sea.
In this passage, the narrator describes the darkness outside the window as being as "vast as a sea." This is hyperbole: the reader knows that the darkness only seems endless because the night conceals details. Inspector Heat has just finished telling the Assistant Commissioner about the evidence he has put together about the bomb Stevie accidentally detonated from seemingly unlikely sources. His information seems unreliable, and it implicates suspects whom the Assistant Commissioner doesn’t believe could be involved. He “knows” that all the anarchists in London are supposed to be accounted for, and believes that Heat’s work is just a wild goose chase.
His refusal to engage with Heat underscores the Assistant Commissioner's feelings of exasperation and overwhelm. His choice to stare out of the window instead of politely making eye contact with Heat isn't just born from an interest in observation of the London night. It’s a reflection of his view of Heat’s apparent incompetence. To him, the mystery surrounding the explosion isn’t being efficiently cleared up by his colleague. As far as the Commissioner is concerned, the sequence of events is still shrouded in darkness. The hyperbolic description of the darkness outside suggests that he feels that the investigation is not progressing. Instead of bringing information to light, he feels that Heat is complicating things, and that under his leadership the “darkness” surrounding the terrorist attacks is still just as “vast” as ever. The night outside, it seems, contains as much useful information as Heat’s investigative efforts.
Conrad uses hyperbole and metaphor to convey the depth of Mr. Verloc's isolation and guilt after his actions with Stevie and the bomb. As he undresses in the room where his wife’s already in bed, his feelings of guilt are so intense that they distort his perception of the world around him.
Mr. Verloc went on divesting himself of his clothing with the un-noticing inward concentration of a man undressing in the solitude of a vast and hopeless desert. For thus inhospitably did this fair earth, our common inheritance, present itself to the mental vision of Mr. Verloc.
Conrad employs hyperbole to emphasize the depth of Verloc’s psychological and emotional isolation after his dealings with his vulnerable brother-in-law. The description of Mr. Verloc undressing isn’t merely an action here. It becomes an event, amplified by the man's intense feelings of guilt. The way that the narrator describes him as undressing "in the solitude of a vast and hopeless desert" is a deliberate exaggeration. It’s intended to show just how deeply Mr. Verloc feels detached from his comfortable surroundings and from Mrs. Verloc herself. The sheer magnitude of this "vast and hopeless desert" echoes the alienation he feels. Although Winnie doesn’t know what has happened, his actions have isolated Verloc, making him feel overwhelmingly alone even when he's not physically solitary. He can’t tell her the truth, and so he’s imprisoned by it. The hyperbole here serves to demonstrate how terrible he feels. It’s as if the earth itself is “inhospitable” to him.
The sparse and lonely desert is a metaphor for Mr. Verloc's altered perception of his world after his cruel, manipulative treatment of Stevie. This "vast and hopeless desert" landscape is a metaphor for his life as he sees it playing out, mirroring the barrenness and despair he now feels. It signifies the drastic shift in his worldview; the "fair earth," which once held promise, joy, and connection, has transformed into a bleak wasteland. Stevie’s involvement in terrorism, Verloc knows, will alienate Verloc from his wife and from his purpose in life. His actions haven't just affected his immediate environment but have reshaped how he perceives the entirety of the world around him.
The narrator provides visual imagery and hyperbolic descriptions of size to differentiate the preoccupations of the Assistant Commissioner and Sir Ethelred:
The Assistant Commissioner had stood up also, slender, and flexible.
‘I think not, Sir Ethelred, unless I were to enter into details which –’
‘No. No details, please.’ The great shadowy form seemed to shrink away as if in physical dread of details; then came forward, expanded, enormous, and weighty, offering a large hand.
In the passage, a stark contrast is evident between the Assistant Commissioner and Sir Ethelred. Their differences in physical size echo the relative “size” and scale of their professional responsibilities.
The narrator portrays the Assistant Commissioner as "slender and flexible.” He has a human-scale presence. He’s not a large man, especially in comparison to Sir Ethelred. This smallness reflects the intensity of his immediate concerns, which focus on Verloc. The Assistant Commissioner is an individual man, focused on a singular issue. The fact that the issue with Verloc has enormous ramifications doesn’t seem to affect this depiction, perhaps because Sir Ethelred doesn’t truly understand what its potential consequences are. Although the Assistant Commissioner believes that the Verloc matter could be the “start of a crusade,” as he thinks immediately after Ethelred departs, the other man’s mind is on other, larger matters.
The narrator depicts Sir Ethelred’s size hyperbolically. He isn’t just a man, he’s a "great shadowy form" who appears "expanded, enormous, and weighty." This exaggerated visual imagery magnifies his stature, making him seem almost supernaturally large. This isn't merely a comment on his physical presence. It's a metaphorical representation of his extensive responsibilities as Secretary of State. His physical size and bulk align with his national importance.
While the Assistant Commissioner can be “flexible” and deal with small-scale problems unobtrusively, Sir Ethelred is a public figure whose actions reverberate outward. The conversation's content reflects these distinctions, with the Assistant Commissioner’s concerns appearing small in comparison to the vast duties of Sir Ethelred. Indeed, Ethelred is so focused on larger issues that he “shrinks away as if in physical dread of details." In this scene, he seems allergic to the smallness of the Verloc situation, and is eager to end the discussion.
When Winnie is wandering the streets of London after her climactic stabbing scene with Mr. Verloc, she’s so despairing and exhausted that she almost collapses. To bring the reader into the moment, the narrator uses a simile referring to the sea, and a hyperbolic metaphor describing her heart:
She pushed the lamp-post away from her violently, and found herself walking. But another wave of faintness overtook her like a great sea, washing away her heart clean out of her breast.
The narrative uses a simile to describe Winnie’s emotional distress, as they recount how "another wave of faintness overtook her like a great sea." In this passage, the “sea” represents the vastness and depth of Winnie's physical distress. Seas are unpredictable, and their waves can easily overpower humans. Like an unexpected wave, the emotions engulfing Winnie keep almost knocking her off her feet. This simile articulates the size of her anguish and how her shock and dismay overwhelm her. She wasn’t expecting any of the evening’s events: it is as if she has very suddenly been caught in a riptide.
Conrad's use of hyperbole in the metaphor of the “sea” "washing away [Winnie’s] heart clean out of her breast" illustrates the profound emotional devastation she’s feeling after killing her husband. The heart is the place where emotions metaphorically reside. By suggesting that the “sea” has entirely and violently removed Winnie’s heart from her, Conrad makes the reader feel the extent of her grief and numbness. Her brother Stevie is dead through Verloc’s actions, and now Verloc is dead through Winnie’s own. While the reader understands that her heart hasn't literally been washed out, this exaggeration makes Winnie's feelings of despair quite clear. It’s also the first hint of the immense weight of her growing determination to end her own life.
Conrad employs hyperbole and vivid visual imagery to depict the isolation and despair Winnie feels in the aftermath of killing Verloc. The world around her transforms into an overwhelming abyss of darkness as she stumbles through the city streets:
It came to her suddenly. Murderers escaped. They escaped abroad. Spain or California. Mere names. The vast world created for the glory of man was only a vast blank to Mrs Verloc. She did not know which way to turn. Murderers had friends, relations, helpers – they had knowledge. She had nothing. She was the most lonely of murderers that ever struck a mortal blow. She was alone in London: and the whole town of marvels and mud, with its maze of streets and its mass of lights, was sunk in a hopeless night, rested at the bottom of a black abyss from which no unaided woman could hope to scramble out.
The hyperbole the narrator uses here, describing Winnie as "the most lonely of murderers," points to her sense of desolation. She is likely not the world’s loneliest murderer, but she certainly feels that way in the moment. The phrase doesn't just imply that she's physically alone. It amplifies her solitude to an extreme, suggesting that among all people who have ever committed such acts, she feels the most abandoned. Winnie thinks she is an “unaided woman” in every sense.
The visual imagery in this passage portrays London—a city usually bustling with life—as a "black abyss," emphasizing these overwhelming feelings of hopelessness and entrapment. The light has gone out of Winnie's life, and so the real lights of the city seem dark and meaningless to her. The visual contrasts between the "maze of streets and mass of lights" all submerged in "hopeless night" serve to illustrate the decline of her situation. In one fell swoop, she feels herself plunged into an unyielding void of despair from which she has little hope of being able to “scramble out."
