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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 1, Scene 2
Explanation and Analysis—Nothing and Noting:
Leontes's repeated characterization of the adulterous behavior he claims to have perceived—but has largely imagined—between his wife and Polixenes as "nothing" is an example of dramatic irony. When Camillo attempts to refute Leontes's claims of Hermione's infidelity in Act 1, Scene 2, Leontes demands:
Is whispering nothing?
Is leaning cheek to cheek? Is meeting noses?
Kissing with inside lip? Stopping the career
Of laughter with a sigh?—a note infallible
Of breaking honesty. Horsing foot on foot? Skulking in corners? Wishing clocks more swift? Hours minutes? Noon midnight? And all eyes Blind with the pin and web but theirs, theirs only,
That would unseen be wicked? Is this nothing?
Why, then the world and all that’s in ’t is nothing, The covering sky is nothing, Bohemia nothing,
My wife is nothing, nor nothing have these nothings,
If this be nothing.
Here, Leontes hyperbolically asserts that Hermione's apparent infidelity is so irrefutable that if it isn't true, then neither is the world or anything in it. However, the audience has been exposed to the same interactions between Hermione and Polixenes that Leontes has interpreted as conclusive proof of romantic intimacy and knows that they are mere signs of friendship. As a result, Leontes's claim is an example of dramatic irony. The play's use of dramatic irony here thus highlights the fact that what Leontes claims to "note" is, in fact, nothing; his unfounded belief in his wife's infidelity has contaminated his perception and left him unable to see the truth.
Related Themes:
Act 2, Scene 1
Explanation and Analysis—Every Woman in the World:
In Act 2, Scene 1, Antigonus uses hyperbole in an attempt to convince Leontes of Hermione’s innocence. He declares that, if Hermione is proven to be unfaithful, then so is every woman on the planet:
I’ll keep my stables where I lodge my wife. I’ll go in couples with her;
Than when I feel and see her, no farther trust her.
For every inch of woman in the world,
Ay, every dram of woman’s flesh, is false,
If she be.
Here, Antigonus exaggerates the consequences of Hermione being proven guilty in an attempt to convince Leontes of her moral purity. By showing how wholeheartedly Antigonus believes that Hermione has been faithful—if Hermione of all women is false, Antigonus asserts, then no woman in the world could be true—this use of hyperbole emphasizes the gravity of Leontes's potential error in accusing his wife of infidelity and intensifies the ominous mood and suspense of this Act.
Moreover, Antigonus' language here illuminates the play's perspective on women's sexuality by suggesting that women are either "true" or "false," chaste or cheaters—a binary that his hyperbole takes to an extreme by applying it to all women.
Related Themes:
Act 4, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—Crush the Earth:
After Florizell unwittingly reveals to his father, who is in disguise, that he plans to marry Perdita, Polixenes declares that he will disown him and refuses to allow the marriage to take place. In response to Perdita's grief, Florizell claims that he is unfazed by his father's rage and uses hyperbole to convey the intensity of his commitment to Perdita:
[Your dignity] cannot fail but by
The violation of my faith; and then
Let nature crush the sides o’ th’ Earth together
And mar the seeds within. Lift up thy looks.
From my succession wipe me, father. I
Am heir to my affection.
Here, Florizell's hyperbolic language emphasizes his loyalty to Perdita. He declares that Perdita's dignity would only be ruined if he ever left her, and he would see the Earth itself destroyed, along with "the seeds within"—or all capacity for life or procreation—before doing so. Since Florizell does not have the power to command nature to "crush the sides o' th' Earth together," the audience knows that this is an exaggeration, but Florizell uses this language to communicate how much he loves Perdita. He goes on to declare that he is willing to remove himself from the family unit to marry her. This use of hyperbole thus conveys Florizell's wholehearted commitment to marrying Perdita and contributes to the audience's investment in the romance between these characters.
Related Themes:
