Evelina: or, The History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World: Hyperbole 4 key examples

The hyperbolic language Lady Howard uses in this passage—describing Evelina as a “little angel” with a “perfect face” whose looks fulfill the “most refined ideas of complete beauty”—effectively captures both Evelina’s beauty and Lady Howard’s emotional nature. Understanding that people beyond Evelina’s adoptive father believe her to be beautiful helps readers understand why so many men throughout the novel try to court her.

Lady Howard’s statement that she would expect Evelina not to be smart because “folly has ever sought alliance with beauty” also communicates a sexist belief held at the time that beautiful women were unintelligent and smart women were not attractive. 

In his efforts to persuade Evelina that she belongs back home at Berry Hill with him, Mr. Villars writes that she is “unfit for the thorny paths of the great and busy world.” This metaphor of the city as a place full of "thorny paths" paints London as an inherently dangerous place. It is notable that the reasons Mr. Villars gives for why she may not be able to traverse London’s “thorny paths” are her lack of etiquette and limited education. While some people in London certainly judge her for these qualities, the kind and sensible characters do not (such as Mrs. Mirvan and Lord Orville).

Mr. Villars then goes on to then use a hyperbole, stating that her “birth and situation” could lead her to experience “a thousand disagreeable adventures.” This exaggerated claim is blatantly untrue, as 1,000 is an extreme number of misadventures. This, then, is Mr. Villars’s attempt at communicating his concern for his daughter. By her “birth and situation,” Mr. Villars is referring to the fact that, while Evelina is technically a member of nobility, as long as her birth father Sir John Belmont denies this, her reputation remains up in the air. Here, Mr. Villars does his best to offer Evelina guidance, even if it means scaring her in the process.

In stating that “there is no young creature who […] so earnestly wishes for the advice and assistance of her friends” and that she has “the most affectionate of friends” and “the ablest of men” guiding her, Evelina uses hyperbolic language to communicate to Lord Orville the depth of her desire to behave well. Her exaggerated language is meant to persuade Lord Orville not only to continue to give her a chance as a romantic partner, but also to encourage him to teach and guide her as one of the “ablest of men” in her life. Ultimately, Evelina’s pleading is successful—Lord Orville trusts that she is not intentionally acting in inappropriate ways, and they eventually end up married.

Sir John’s claims that he would “plunge a dagger in [his] heart” and that Evelina “has set [his] brain on fire” are both hyperbolic exaggerations meant to capture his astonishment over meeting this secret daughter he never knew he had. As a nobleman, he is accustomed to people trying to use him to access his wealth, so he didn't believe that a random young woman claiming to be his daughter could be telling the truth.

It’s important to note that, while Sir John runs away in shock in this moment, he returns to Evelina in a calmer state and welcomes her into his family, offering her the title and inheritance she deserves. In this way, Sir John proves that, though he abandoned Evelina’s mother Caroline when he was young, he has matured into a compassionate and upstanding adult.