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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
Part 1: Book 1, Chapter 2: The First Son Sent Packing
Explanation and Analysis—Surprised He Had a Son:
After assuming responsibility for Dmitri’s upbringing due to Fyodor’s neglect, the boy’s uncle, Pyotr Alexandrovich Miusov, uses hyperbole in his claims that Fyodor did not even remember that he had a child:
It was then that he first made the acquaintance of Fyodor Pavlovich. He told him straight off that he wanted to take responsibility for the child’s upbringing. Years later he used to recall, as typical of the man, that when he first began speaking about Mitya with Fyodor Pavlovich, the latter looked for a while as if he had no idea what child it was all about, and was even surprised, as it were, to learn that he had a little son somewhere in the house. Though Pyotr Alexandrovich may have exaggerated, still there must have been some semblance of truth in his story.
Miusov is certainly correct to note that Fyodor had neglected his son, largely delegating his care and education to his servant, Grigory. However, the narrator acknowledges that Miusov “may have exaggerated” in claiming that Fyodor “had no idea” that there was a child living in his home. The narrator does note, however, that there was “some semblance of truth” in his otherwise hyperbolic claim, as Fyodor likely pretended to be ignorant of his son’s existence as a characteristically irreverent prank or joke. Additionally, there is a sense of irony to Miusov’s exaggeration here, as he himself largely forgot Dmitri later on, despite volunteering to serve as his guardian.
Related Themes:
Part 1: Book 2, Chapter 8: Scandal
Explanation and Analysis—Played a Big Part:
After deliberately creating an unpleasant scene during a planned dinner with Father Mikhail, the pious superior of the local hermitage, Fyodor storms out and makes hyperbolic accusations against the monks:
"I won’t come back again, even if you beg me on bended knee, I won’t come back. I sent you a thousand roubles, and now you’ve got your eyes cocked, heh, heh, heh! No, I won’t add any more. I’m taking revenge for my lost youth, for all my humiliations!” He pounded the table with his fist in a fit of sham emotion. “This little monastery has played a big part in my life! I’ve shed many a bitter tear because of it! You turned my wife, the shrieker, against me. You cursed me at all seven councils, you smeared my name over the whole district!"
Fyodor deeply resents the monks for witnessing his own shameful behavior, reflecting his characteristic inability to take responsibility for his actions. Offended, he claims that he will never “come back again” even if they beg him to, adding that he is “taking revenge” for all of the “humiliations” he feels that he has suffered. Here, the narrator characterizes his actions as “a fit of sham emotion,” suggesting that he knows his accusations are false.
Nevertheless, he becomes increasingly hyperbolic in his claims, suggesting that the monastery is responsible for every tragedy he has suffered, including the mental illness of his second wife. Further, he claims that they have “cursed” him “at all seven councils,” alluding to the ecumenical councils attended by church leaders in early Christianity, during the first millennium. This obviously exaggerated and in fact impossible claim underscores his outrageous and blustering personality.
Part 3: Book 9, Chapter 5: The Third Torment
Explanation and Analysis—Not Smerdyakov!:
In a passage suffused with dramatic irony, Dmitri rejects the possibility that Fyodor was murdered by Smerdyakov:
“I don’t know who or what person, the hand of heaven or Satan, but … not Smerdyakov!” Mitya snapped out resolutely. “But why do you maintain so firmly and with such insistence that he is not the one?” “From conviction. Not from impression. Because Smerdyakov is a man of the most abject nature and a coward. Not just a coward, but a conjunction of all cowardice in the world taken together, walking on two legs. He was born of a chicken [...] He’s a sickly, epileptic, feebleminded chicken, who could be thrashed by an eight-year-old boy."
After Dmitri is arrested as a suspect in his father’s murder, Nikolai Parfenovich claims that Smerdyakov is also being investigated as a suspect. Fyodor mockingly dismisses this possibility, characterizing Smerdyakov, in hyperbolic terms, as not only a coward but “a conjunction of all cowardice in the world taken together, walking on two legs.” Dmitri, like the other members of his family, underestimates Smerdyakov. However, Smerdyakov is indeed the murderer, a fact known to the reader but not to Dmitri. There is a dark sense of comedy in this scene, as Dmitri further implicates himself in his mockery of the true killer.
Related Themes:
