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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
Act 2
Explanation and Analysis—Pegeen's Exasperation:
Synge often uses hyperbole to heighten the dramatic or comedic effect of important scenes in The Playboy of the Western World. For example, in Act 2, Pegeen reproaches Christy for telling his story too many times:
CHRISTY. looks at her face for a moment with great misgivings, then as a last effort, takes up a loy, and goes towards her, with feigned assurance.—It was with a loy the like of that I killed my father.
PEGEEN. still sharply.—You’ve told me that story six times since the dawn of day.
CHRISTY. reproachfully.—It’s a queer thing you wouldn’t care to be hearing it and them girls after walking four miles to be listening to me now.
Christy has not actually told the story six times since dawn, but Pegeen feels exasperated at his showboating, so she exaggerates the number of times he has told it. She also does so because she feels jealous of the village girls who visit the pub in hopes of glimpsing the legendary man who killed his father. This example of hyperbole shows Pegeen's tendency to exaggerate when she is exasperated; it also heightens the comedic effect of the village girls' obsession with Christy and his subsequently heightened belief in himself. In a sense, Pegeen is satirizing Christy's increasingly self-aggrandizing tendencies while revealing her jealous sense of attachment to this "heroic" newcomer.
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