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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, Scene 3
Explanation and Analysis—The Mirror:
After the defeat of the rebel lords led by Hotspur has been confirmed, Hotspur’s father, the Earl of Northumberland, deliberates on his next move. His first instinct is to rush to battle, but Lady Percy, his daughter-in-law and Hotspur’s widow, criticizes Northumberland harshly and uses a metaphor that compares Hotspur to a “glass” or mirror:
He was indeed the glass
Wherein the noble youth did dress themselves.
He had no legs that practiced not his gait;
And speaking thick, which nature made his blemish,
Became the accents of the valiant;
For those that could speak low and tardily
Would turn their own perfection to abuse
To seem like him. So that in speech, in gait,
In diet, in affections of delight,
In military rules, humors of blood,
He was the mark and glass, copy and book,
That fashioned others.
Act 2, Scene 4
Explanation and Analysis—Worth Five of Agamemnon :
In a comic scene, a drunk Falstaff enjoys a rowdy dinner in Eastcheap, a low-class neighborhood in the play, with Mistress Quickly, the hostess of a tavern to whom he owes a good deal of money, and Doll Tearsheet, a prostitute. Teasing Falstaff, Doll alludes to a series of figures from Greek mythology and medieval history:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Ah, you sweet little rogue, you. Alas, poor ape,
how thou sweat’st! Come, let me wipe thy face.
Come on, you whoreson chops. Ah, rogue, i’ faith, I love thee. Thou art as valorous as Hector of Troy,
worth five of Agamemnon, and ten times better
than the Nine Worthies. Ah, villain!
