Luận văn (ver Tiếng Anh) NGOA DỤ trong các tác phẩm văn học của Shakespeare và Nam Cao

luận văn đề tài NGOA DỤ trong các tác phẩm văn học của Shakespeare và Nam Cao bản tiếng anh đầy đủ nội dung, bìa, mục lục, phụ lục... (bìa, phụ lục ở cuối bài) “HYPERBOLE IN LITERARY WORKS BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AND NAM CAO”

I INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

In a cutting-edge science and technology era, along with the globalization process,English plays a particularly important role in international trade, business,education, entertainment activities and in almost aspects of daily life It becomes abridge among countries and is considered useful means of communication to furtherrelationships and create more mutual understanding among all the peoples aroundthe world Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech& Svartvik (1985) found “English is generallyacknowledged to be the world’s most important language”

Besides, literature always plays an essential role in most people’s spirit life andbecomes a great field of a language acquisition process Though the explosion ofinformation and the revolution of high technology, especially the internet, for a fewrecent decades have given us various kinds of entertainment, literature is still one ofthe oldest and most favorite ways of entertaining, learning and experiencing life.Besides, every literary work reflects authors’ talents, one of those is the way theyuse the language to express their ideas and to impress the readers There are manyways the writers have been using to make the language become such a valuable andflexible means of transferring the ideas One of these tremendously impressive ways

of language expression is using hyperbole Hyperbole is a figurative languagetechnique where exaggeration is used to create a strong effect In literature, by usinghyperbole, a writer or a poet makes common human feelings remarkable andintense to such an extent that they do not remain ordinary, for this, it becomes themain part of the ubiquitous non literal language techniques

One strong motivation for my choice is the fact that the use of hyperbole inliterature has a great appeal to most of the readers Definitely, a word or phrase orsentence of hyperbole is full of creativity with figurative and attracting style whichcatches the whole attention of readers Also, while hyperbole is of a great many ofbenefits for readers’ language acquisition, this technique is still a largely under-researched field which causes readers misunderstandings with other figurativelanguages such as metaphor, irony or simile

Moreover, the thesis focuses on hyperbole used in the literal works of Shakespeare,

an English writer, and Nam Cao, a Vietnamese writer, when they are both thetypical writers of literature realism of their own time and their characters are of

social classification illustrated in their writings While Shakespeare used hyperbolemostly to describe (emphasize) the characters and their lives of upper class withluxury and beauty of magnificence like in “Romeo and Juliet” or “Hamlet”,hyperbole used in Nam Cao’s works focuses on description of lower classcharacters such as Chi Pheo in “Chi Pheo'' or Lang ran in “Lang ran” In theseliterary works of both well–known writers, readers could have an obvious andinteresting understanding of hyperbole and its usefulness in literature

For the above - mentioned reasons, I would like to carry out my research on thetopic “HYPERBOLE IN LITERARY WORKS BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEAREWITH REFERENCE TO HYPERBOLE IN LITERARY WORKS BY NAMCAO” This thesis is conducted with the hope that the research results will providecertain linguistically useful practical knowledge of English hyperbole forVietnamese learners of English as well as those who are interested in this field

1.2 Aims and Objectives:

The study aims at investigating features of hyperbole in English and Vietnamese inthe literary works by William Shakespeare and Nam Cao in order to have a goodinsight into hyperbole and from which to suggest solutions to overcome difficulties

in teaching English hyperbole for Vietnamese learners of English

To reach the aim, the objectives of the study are as follows:

- To describe the syntactic and semantic features of hyperbole in English andVietnamese through literary works by William Shakespeare and Nam Cao

- To find out similarities and differences between hyperbole in English andVietnamese through literary works by William Shakespeare Nam Cao in terms ofsyntax and semantics

- To identify common problems for mastering English hyperbole for Vietnameselearners of English and suggest some solutions to overcome these problems

2 What are the similarities and differences between hyperbole in English andVietnamese through literary works by William Shakespeare and Nam Cao in terms

of syntax and semantics?

3 What are common problems in mastering English hyperbole for Vietnameselearners of English and solutions for overcoming them?

1.4 Method of the study

With the purpose of finding out the similarities and differences of Englishhyperbole in some literary works by William Shakespeare and Nam Cao in terms ofsyntax and semantics, Linguistic orientation is based on to provide expectedresearch results Moreover, to have an effective investigation, a flexiblecombination of several methods will be used First of all, descriptive method is used

to describe the syntactic and semantic features of English hyperbole in literaryworks by William Shakespeare and Nam Cao In addition, contrastive analysis isemployed to find out the similarities and differences between English andVietnamese hyperbole from syntactic and semantic perspectives Equallyimportantly, hyperbole teaching and learning process analysis is used to find out theparticular problems met by teachers and students of the first-year study at HongDuc University in teaching hyperbole in English Finally, questionnaires are used tocollect reliable data from teachers in using hyperbole in English

1.5 Scope of the study

Theoretically, within the academic scope of the study, hyperbole will be mainlyexamined in written language in literary works by William Shakespeare and NamCao The thesis will focus on the following linguistic features: syntactic andsemantic features of English hyperbole in literary works by William Shakespeareand Nam Cao 240 examples of English hyperbole in literary works by WilliamShakespeare and 270Vietnamese examples by Nam Cao are collected from suchsources Because of the frequency of occurrences of hyperbole less than thenarration, the author has to gather a large amount of English hyperbole in fourliterary works by William Shakespeare and in four works by Nam Cao.Questionnaires are used to find out the teaching problems met by Vietnameseteachers of English in teaching “hyperbole” for Vietnamese learners of English,

from which it helps the researcher give some solutions for overcoming thoseproblems.

Socially, the study collects data regarding features The survey questionnairesdesigned in this research focus primarily on the knowledge and experiences ofVietnamese teachers at Hong Duc University in English teaching process for thethird - year students whose major is English is the second language when they find

it hard to deal with hyperbole problems in Reading Comprehensions, so theresearch results are somewhat subjective

Materially, the research is based on sources that are examples from Shakespeare'sand Nam Cao’s literary works, but not on other sources

Regarding the scope of application, the author only applies her research results toteaching English to the first-year students at Hong Duc University

1.6 Significance of the study

The study of “Hyperbole in the literary works written by Shakespeare and Nam Cao” can be a learning paradigm in the university to support teachers in teaching

hyperbole in reading comprehension and enhance the students’ knowledge on thetheme as well This study of semantic and syntactic feature analysis on hyperbolecould hence to some extent help learners have a good insight into their syntactic,semantic and features, which is beneficial for teachers and learners of the twolanguages

The project’s goal is also designed to help students improve academic competence,develop reading skill and imagination through figurative language

1.7 Structure of the study

The study consists of five following chapters:

Chapter I, Introduction, includes the rationale, the aim and objectives, the research

questions, the scope, the significance and the structural organization

Chapter II, Literature review, introduces previous studies related to the thesis.

Also, this is an introduction to theoretical background which is designed to serve asthe basic foundation of data analysis and discussion of findings in the followingchapter

Chapter III, Hyperbole in English and Vietnamese literature analysis, describes

and analyzes the syntactic and semantic features of hyperbole in English basing onsome literary works written by William Shakespeare,

Chapter IV, Conclusion, gives the summary of the study Furthermore, this chapter

also presents the limitations of the research and some suggestions for furtherstudies

References and Appendices come at the end of the thesis

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 The previous studies

Hyperbole has been since late antiquity as one of the many figures of speechdiscussed within the general framework of rhetoric However, the emphasis hasbeen primarily laid on defining, classifying and illustrating this trope Incontemporary language theories, the paucity of studies addressing hyperbole is mostnotable, probably because in other disciplines it has been considered a classic trope

whose study belongs to that of rhetoric Thus, no serious attention has been paid to the study of hyperbole in the domain of syntax and semantics Most of the

empirical work on hyperbole involved comparison of frequency and use in differentcultures (e.g Spitzbardt 1963, Cohen 1987, Edelman et al, 1989) Ohlrogge andTsang (2004) carried out a study on the frequency of hyperbole in academic speech.They questioned whether in academic speech people maintain the careful andcautious tone of academic prose, or whether, in the heat of the spoken moment, theyadopt the exaggerations of colloquial speech Apart from these cross-culturalstudies, most interest in hyperbole has been almost invariably directed at explainingthe psychological processes operating on their understanding, being much of thisliterature subsumed within studies of verbal irony or theories of humour McCarthyand Carter (2004) have argued in favour of a conversational and discourse analysisapproach when investigating the role of exaggeration in naturally-occurring speech.Their study reveals that the key recurring items such as listener acceptance token,laughter, and listener’s own further contribution to the emerging hyperbolic contextare crucial to the interpretation of hyperboles as joint activities betweenconversational patterns

In Understanding Hyperbole, Noura Aljadaan (2017) discussed the relationship that

metaphor and hyperbole had He examined Relevance Theory’s approach to theirrelationship and discussed the views that considered hyperbole as a kind of irony

He also had a look at generalization and what it shared with hyperbole

In Hyperbole in English: a corpus-based study of exaggeration, Claridge (2011)

approaches the rhetoric of hyperbole The relation of hyperbole to politicaldiscourse, humour and literature is illustrated in case studies Three politicalspeeches are analysed It is striking, however, how similar Powell’s use ofhyperbole is to that of present-day European right-wing populists Claridge shows

(p.225) how Powell exaggerates the feelings of native Britons, the amount andnature of immigration and also the effects of immigration.

Raflis, Juni Rahmat Zai studied hyperbole in Shakespeare’s poetry (Figurative language in Shakespeare’s - 2018) in terms of one of the types of figurative

language, figurative language formulas, and figurative language functions In theresearch, the main purpose for formalist criticism is to determine how elements inShakespeare's poetry work together with text content to form meaning to thereaders

However, there has not been so far a study on syntactic and semantic features ofhyperbole in English, especially a contrast study on hyperbole in English andVietnamese literature It is necessary for the writer to do such research on thismatter to have a deeper understanding about hyperbole in the case, first for her owncareer’s sake and then for the learners or other researchers of English as a foreignlanguage

2.2 The theoretical background

2.2.1 Definition of hyperbole

2.2.1.1 Definition of hyperbole in English

In the 5th century B.C there was a rabble-rousing Athenian, a politician namedHyperbolus, who often made exaggerated promises and claims that whipped peopleinto a frenzy But even though it sounds appropriate, Hyperbolus' name did not play

a role in the development of the modern English word hyperbole That noun does come to us from Greek (by way of Latin), but from the Greek verb hyperballein,

meaning "to exceed," not from the name of the Athenian demagogue

The word comes to English directly from Latin, but the Latin word is from a Greekword that has one crucial visual difference It has a line, called a macron, over thefinal e: hyperbolē The macron tells us that the vowel is pronounced like \ee\

The fact that hyperbole is pronounced in a way countering to the usual workings ofEnglish pronunciation gives a hint as to the word's history in the language.Although these days hyperbole might be encountered in a magazine at the doctor'soffice, the world's first use was technical It's from the field of rhetoric, whichmakes it at home with terms like metaphor, trope, and litotes And speaking oflitotes (pronounced \LYE-tuh-teez\), that term is an approximate antonym of

hyperbole It refers to understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by thenegation of the contrary, as in "not a bad idea" or "not unpleasant."

https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/hyperbole-2017-04-09Hyperbole is defined as a form of extremity, an exaggeration that either magnifies

or minimizes some real state of affairs (Cano Morn, 2004) It is not intended to betaken literally and it produces ridicule or satire when applied to banal topics Theterm goes back to Aristotle, and "features throughout the historiography ofrhetoric" (Mac Carthy and Carter, 2004:15) It implies extravagant exaggeration bywhich something is represented as much greater or less, better or worse, orinvolving a greater intensity than in reality, or beyond possibility; a statementexaggerated fancifully through excitement, or for effect

William Shepard Walsh defines hyperbole is that: (Gr."excess,""overstrainedpraise," etc.), a recognized figure of rhetoric, meaning an extravagant statement orassertion, which, when used for conscious effect, is not to be taken too seriously ortoo literally Yet the hyperbole is often used unconsciously by the men of vivid yetunbalanced imagination whom the world sometimes calls liars and sometimes fools.Hyperbole is a kind of figurative language where the speaker says something whilemeaning another thing (Stern, 2000) In other words, the literal meaning of what issaid does not match the intended meaning (Recchia, Howe, Ross & Alexander,2010) When using hyperbole, speakers do not say X, rather they say something ismore than X (Claridge, 2010) They exceed the limits that the hearers expect byusing exaggeration (Burgers, Brugman, Lavalette & Steen, 2016) Leech (1983)states that hyperbole is a feature of everyday conversations which people use toexaggerate and evaluate Hyperbole has been used for thousands of years and wasmentioned in classical Greece handbooks (Claridge, 2010) In fact, the RomanRhetorician Quintilian addresses hyperbole and states that people, includingpeasants and ignorant people, use it daily By stating that uneducated people usehyperbole, he might be noting how easy it is to produce and comprehend hyperbole.Although humans constantly use hyperbole, it is understudied (Cartson & Wearing,2015)

Hyperbole exists in many languages, especially, it has become a very ubiquitousspread in English in both everyday speech and written form In written English,from poems, dramatics, plays, novels, stories to other kinds of literature, hyperbole

is used quite popular and widely to evoke strong feelings or to create strong

impressions It tends to be used within informal settings or for literary effect It isnot, for example, regarded as good practice to use hyperbole within businessEnglish; it could be regarded as unprofessional.

Examples:

- I’m so hungry that I could eat a horse

(In daily conversations)

“Eat a horse” is an English idiom that is used to exaggerate how hungry he/she feels

In fact, a horse is too big for anyone to eat

- New York is the city that never sleeps.

(In daily conversations)

The phrase “never sleeps” is the way the writer uses to emphasize a lively city like

New York

- "The skin on her face was as thin and drawn as tight as the skin of onion and her eyes were gray and sharp like the points of two picks."

(Parker's Back by Flannery O'Connor - 1965)

Hyperbole is often used in descriptions In the above-mentioned example, the boldsentences are hyperbolically described to emphasize some qualities of a person orthing by exaggerating them

- Hyperbole can also be used to describe a person’s emotions In the following

selection, a boy is pulling a man up from a deep hole See how hyperbole is used to

describe the boy’s thoughts as he struggles in which “a giant” and “ a block of granite” are used to show how big the man is while pulled that makes the pull

unendurable

"It was not a mere man he was holding, but a giant; or a block of granite The pull

was unendurable The pain unendurable"

(Banner in the Sky, James Ramsey Ullman - 1988)

- Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief That thou her maid art far more fair than she

(W Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet)

When Romeo says, "Arise, fair sun," he is thinking both of Juliet and of the real sun.

He is hyperbolically comparing Juliet to the sun as a deliberate flouting of poeticlanguage, and he is also thinking that when the real sun actually rises, as it will do

quite soon, then there is a better chance that Juliet will wake up and appear on thebalcony.

In conclusion, when something is exaggerated, it is closely related to hyperbole.Hyperbole is used everywhere, from a conversation about a good meal someoneenjoys, to comedy acts, to literature, to emphasize the things described or thoughtsexpressed by speakers or writers Also, a simile or metaphor might compare things,but they are not proved to be exaggerations as hyperbole does

2.2.1.2 Definition of hyperbole in Vietnamese

There are a number of different words in Vietnamese illustrating the word

“hyperbole” They are “ngoa dụ”, “nói quá”, “cường điệu” or “thậm xưng” whichare relatively translated into English words like hyperbole, overstatement,exaggeration, magnification

According to the grade 8 Literature textbook: “Nói quá là một biện pháp tu từ nhằm phóng đại mức độ, quy mô, tính chất của sự việc Mục đích chính của nói quá

là tạo ấn tượng, tạo điểm nhấn và tăng sức biểu cảm cho sự diễn đạt.”

https://dinhnghia.vn/noi-qua-la-gi-tac-dung-noi-qua.html

(Hyperbole is a figure of speech that uses an exaggerated or extravagant statement

to create a strong emotional response Its purpose is to make a great impression of the things mentioned and create strong emotion on listeners)

Đào Thản, a famous Vietnamese writer, describes in Phong cách học tiếng Việt [6,

tr 2]: “Phóng đại (còn gọi: khoa trương, thậm xưng, ngoa ngữ, cường điệu) là dùng từ ngữ hoặc cách diễn đạt để nhân lên gấp nhiều lần những thuộc tính của khách thể hoặc hiện tượng nhằm mục đích làm nổi bật bản chất của đối tượng cần miêu tả, gây ấn tượng đặc biệt mạnh mẽ Khác hẳn với nói điêu, nói khoác về tính chất, động cơ và mục đích, phóng đại không phải là xuyên tạc sự thật để lừa dối.

Nó không làm cho người ta tin vào điều nói ra, mà chỉ cốt hướng cho ta hiểu được điều nói lên”.

(Hyperbole, (also called overstatement, exaggeration) is a figurative language using words or expressions to multiply the subject attributes into several folds in order to highlight the nature of the object described Very different from telling lies

or boasting about something, hyperbole is not for falsifying the events but for readers to apprehend the inner nature of things.)

Example:

Con rận bằng con ba ba Đêm nằm nó ngáy cả nhà thất kinh

https://thanhdiavietnamhoc.com/khoa-truong-trong-ca-dao-cua-nguoi-viet/

(The louse is as big as a tortoise and he snores so loudly at night that everyone feels fearful.)

Also in “Phong cách học tiếng Việt hiện đại” [2, tr 312], Hữu Đạt proved: “Khoa

trương hay phóng đại là biện pháp nói giảm hay nói quá sự thật nhằm diễn tả sự vậthiện tượng dưới cái nhìn châm biếm hoặc hy vọng khách quan”

(Hyperbole or exaggeration is the way to understate or overstate the truth of the things so that they can be described with a satirical view or objective hope)

“Hyperboles can be found in literature and oral communication They would not be used in nonfiction works, like medical journals or research papers; but, they are perfect for fictional works, especially to add color to a character or humor to the story Hyperboles are comparisons, like similes and metaphors, but are extravagant and even ridiculous.”

https://kungfutienganh.wordpress.com/tag/phep-ngoa-du/Some more examples on hyperbole in Vietnamese literary works:

“Mấy cô má đỏ hây hây

Đội bông như thể đội mây về làng”

(Vietnamese Proverb)

“Đội bông như thể đội mây về làng” means carrying the basket of cotton is

exaggerated as the basket of cloud to the village

“Đêm tháng năm chưa nằm đã sáng Ngày tháng mười chưa cười đã tối”

(Vietnamese Ca dao)

The statements mean the nights of May and the day of October are both too shortfor anyone to drift into a sleep and have a laugh.

- “Bác ơi! Tim bác mênh mông thế!

Ôm cả non sông mọi kiếp người.”

(To Huu – Bac oi!)

The phrase “Ôm cả non sông mọi kiếp người” literally means Uncle Ho’s

heart can hold all mountains and rivers and humans in his arms, which shows hisgreat love to the people and the country

- “Đội trời đạp đất ở đời

Vai năm tấc rộng, thân mười thước cao”

(Nguyen Du – Truyen Kieu)

“Đội trời đạp đất” means standing between earth and sky with arrogance

“Vai năm tấc rộng, thân mười thước cao”: Of large shoulders, tall, massive body.

Hyperbole is defined in Vietnamese as one of the effective devices withexaggeration and overstatement or understatement to boost strong emotionalresponse of readers/ listeners Its purpose is also to emphasize the speaker's/ writers’implication

2.2.2 Function of hyperbole

Hyperbole, from a Greek word meaning "excess," is a figure of speech that usesextreme exaggeration to make a point or show emphasis It is the opposite ofunderstatement

Hyperboles are used in speech and writing for effect The embellishment that ahyperbole creates brings particular attention to that thought or idea Hyperboles arenot meant to be taken literally, but stand out and create emphasis

“Hyperbole is often used for emphasis or effect In casual speech, it functions as an intensifier: saying "the bag weighed a ton" simply means that the bag was extremely heavy The rhetorical device may be used for serious or ironic or comic effects Understanding hyperbole and its use in context can help understand the speaker's point Hyperbole generally conveys feelings or emotions from the speaker, or from those who the speaker may talk about It can be used in a form of humor, excitement, distress, and many other emotions, all depending on the context in which the speaker uses it.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbole

Examples of hyperbole appear in a great number of language expressions, both inliterature and everyday speech It's perfect for creative writing and communication,especially when it is used to add color to a character or humor to a story.

- In simple conversations, everyday examples of hyperbole show that the sentimentisn't realistic, but it helps to stress the point:

Examples:

- The car went faster than the speed of light.

The speed of light in a vacuum is 186,282 miles per and in theory, nothing can travelfaster than light The bold sentence aims to emphasize the speed of the car travellingwhen comparing it with the speed of light

- My English teacher is older than the hills.

“Older than the hills” comes from the idea that the Earth, its hills, and many other

landforms are very old Therefore, if a person’s age is compared with the hills, he orshe must be exceedingly old

- I am so hungry I could eat a horse.

The last example of hyperbole exaggerates the condition of hunger to emphasizethat the subject of this sentence is, in fact, very hungry This person has no intention

of literally eating a horse but is trying to figuratively communicate his hunger using

a hyperbole for effect

- When hyperbole is placed into a speech, it can help to really punch the points Atiny bit of exaggeration may be enough to perk up the ears of the audience

Examples:

- "Please sit down because having produced nine million award shows, I know the

producer's up there saying, 'Hurry, say thanks fast'."

(Dick Clark, Daytime Emmy Award Acceptance Address)

- "So first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is

fear itself."

(Franklin Delano Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address)

- Similar to a well-delivered speech, in the lyrics of a song, hyperbole can helppaint a vivid picture or express a strong emotion

Examples:

- “Now there's just no chance, for you and me, there'll never be, And don't it make

you sad about it, Cry me a river, Cry me a river.

(Justin Timberlake - Cry Me a River)

- I would fly to the moon and back if you'll be If you'll be my baby, got a ticket

for a world where we belong, so would you be my baby?

(Savage Garden - To the Moon and Back)

- In advertisements, if used properly, hyperbole can encourage consumers to buyproducts There has been limited research into this area, but according to a 2007study by Mark A Callister PhD & Lesa A Stern PhD, "The Role of VisualHyperbole in Advertising Effectiveness" found that "hyperbolic ads produce more

ad liking than non hyperbolic ads."

Examples:

- Adds amazing luster for infinite, mirror-like shine

(Brilliant Brunette shampoo)The hyperbole in this statement for shampoo is that it creates infinite mirror-likeshine It is not possible for a shampoo, no matter the brand, to create infinite shine

or even shine that is comparable to a mirror

- Mints so strong they come in a metal box

(Altoids)This description implies that the mints are so strong that they need to be contained

in a metal box rather than paper or plastic packaging Of course this is not literallytrue, but it emphasizes just how strong this breath mint is Such a description isfunny in its exaggeration and may attract those looking for a stronger mint

Hyperboles, however, should be used sparingly in writing and in speech The reasonbeing the intention is to bring attention to a particular concept If hyperboles areoverused, a “boy who cried wolf” situation occurs, and the hyperbole loses effect.This is to say, if every sentence were a hyperbole, the audience would not take thewriter or speaker seriously They would be desensitized to all of the exaggerations.However, when a hyperbole is used appropriately, its effect is purposeful andemphatic, causing the reader to pay attention to that particular point

2.2.3 Function of hyperbole in literature

2.2.3.1 Function of hyperbole in English literature

With regard to literature, hyperbole is a literary device where the author usesspecific words and phrases that exaggerate and overemphasize the basic crux of thestatement in order to produce a grander, more noticeable effect The purpose ofhyperbole is to create a larger-than-life effect and overly stress a specific point

Such sentences usually convey an action or sentiment that is generally notpractically/ realistically possible or plausible but helps emphasize an emotion.

“Hyperbole has been used throughout literature for many centuries Heroic dramas,which are dramas with an emphasis on grandeur and excess, often make use ofhyperbole to extend the effect and epic nature of the genre Modern tall tales alsomake use of hyperbole to exaggerate the feats and characteristics of theirprotagonists.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperboleThe objective of using hyperbole is to add an amusing effect in the text Inliterature, it carries a great significance as it allows the writers to present somethingcommon in an intense manner In short, by applying hyperbole, one can turn acommon feeling into a remarkable one Most importantly, the use of hyperboleprovides a contrast as with this technique, something is explained by giving an extrastress and on the other hand, the other descriptions remain normal Hence, it grabsthe readers’ attention and makes the literary work memorable for a long time

Malcolm is sad, to say the least “whose sole name blisters our tongues” because

once considered an honest man he refers to Macbeth who betrayed him and hisfather and Macbeth continues to do so This tyrant, whose mere name is so awful ithurts him to say it, was once considered an honest man

- "Why, if two gods should play some heavenly match and on the wager lay two

earthly women, And Portia one, there must be something else Pawned with the other, for the poor rude world Hath not her fellow."

(W Shakespeare - The Merchant of Venice)This description of Portia is a hyperbole because her personality is exaggerated.Jessica describes her first impressions of Portia to Lorenzo Jessica uses heaven todescribe Bassano’s choice of a wife She believes that Bassanio could not do betterthan Portia Jessica straddles the two religious communities and her views givereaders deeper insight into Portia’s character Clearly, Portia has universal appeal as

she treats those around her with kindness, showing goodness and selflessnessinstead of prejudice.

- “Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.”

(W Shakespeare – The Tempest)

It is the use of hyperbole, exaggerating that Prospero‘s tale has the ability to curedeafness

From the above given examples, obviously, in prose, hyperbole is generally usedfor the purpose of emphasis or for humor A writer who wants to make a particularpoint may make that point by overstating or exaggerating it Hyperbole can be used

in descriptions to emphasize some particularly prominent feature of a character, forinstance It can also be used to describe an action that is remarkable in some way Inthese and other similar cases, hyperbole is used to place emphasis on a particularaction, feeling, or feature and is not meant to be taken literally

Often, hyperbole in English literature relies on imagery that can be quite humorous.While the main focus of a given use of hyperbole may simply be emphasis throughoverstatement, a humorous image is, intentionally or otherwise, often a secondaryresult A man may be described as having "fingers like Italian sausages," forinstance While the purpose of this phrasing may be to comment on the size of theman's fingers, it relies on the humorous image of a man with thick, stubby, sausage-like fingers Writers who use hyperbole, therefore, must be mindful of the imagesthey rely upon, particularly if they do not want to infuse their work with humor.However, as one of the figurative language techniques, hyperbole is totally differentfrom the simile and metaphor It does not make comparisons, rather it adds ahumorous effect in the writing In brief, it creates overstatement and it points put anaction or a characteristic of a person Sometimes, it is combined with the alliterationand rhyme Moreover, it is noticeably used in the literature

3 Function of hyperbole in Vietnamese literature

In Vietnamese, hyperbole is often used to in literary works, playing a greatimportant role in literature:

“Phóng đại hay nói quá thường được sử dụng trong ngôn ngữ hàng ngày Ví dụ

như: buồn nẫu ruột, giận sôi gan, mệt đứt hơi, đói rã họng Còn trong các tác phẩm văn học thì phóng đại, nói quá đã trở thành một biện pháp tu từ được sử

dụng Với chức năng nhận thức, khắc sâu hơn bản chất của đối tượng, tăng sức biểu cảm, nhấn mạnh, gây ấn tượng mạnh cho người đọc.

https://dinhnghia.vn/noi-qua-la-gi-tac-dung-noi-qua.html

(Hyperbole is a figure of everyday speech activities used to emphasize the strength

of their case For example: such a deep depression of a person that his gut begins

to wilt or someone is so angry that his liver seems to be boiling, how tired he was

as if he lost his breath or how hungry he is as in case of his disintegrated throat In prose, hyperbole is of the figurative languages used as an acquisition function to impress the nature of the things mentioned, to increase perfect expression and to make the strongest impression on readers.)

It is obviously believed that hyperbole used in prose works helps listeners have deeper understanding of the things mentioned, be easily impressed by them andhave greater memory on them

Examples:

Chàng Gióng mình đồng da sắt cưỡi ngựa như bay trước quân thù.

(Giong Saint – Than thoai su Viet)

“Mình đồng da sắt”and “cưỡi ngựa như bay” mean Giong’s body is exaggeratedly

described as being made of copper and his skin of steel He is riding his horse asfast as he is flying The phrases and sentences impress readers about Giong’sstrength and willingness that are ready for struggling with An armies

Thanks to its function to make a great impression of the mentioned things,hyperbole is preferred in urgent appeals or speeches

“Trong văn chương, nói quá thường thích hợp với những loại văn bản: châm biếm, trữ tình, anh hùng ca, những văn bản có chức năng kêu gọi, lời hiệu triệu”

(Trần Quốc Tuấn – Hịch Tướng sỹ)

“Ruột đau như cắt” means his intestine is as hurtful as being torn off.

“Xả thịt lột da, uống máu quân thù” means to tear off the enemies’ flesh and drink

their blood

“Trăm thân này phơi ngoài nội cỏ, nghìn xác này gói trong da ngựa” means his

body cut into hundred or thousand pieces is public displayed or covered with horseskin

The phrases and sentences hyperbolically show the leader’s pure hatred to theenemies and his great concern and willingness to fight for them

“Nói giảm nói tránh là một biện pháp tu từ dùng cách diễn đạt tế nhị, uyển chuyển tránh gây cảm giác đau buồn, ghê sợ, nặng nề, tránh thô tục, lịch sự.”

(Sách ngữ văn lớp 8, tập 1: bài 10, trang 108: nhà xuất bản giáo dục)

(Hyperbole is a figure of speech used as a delicate and flexible expression helping

to prevent readers/ listeners from mournful and fearful feelings from the case.)

It means that understatement is the figure of speech using the polite and subtleexpression to avoid sadness, the distresses, and rudeness

To conclude, hyperbole in Vietnamese literature is regarded as one of the figurativelanguages that tend to be often used to emphasize the meaning of the words byoverstating or understating them This makes a strong impression on readers

3.1 Theoretical Framework

3.1.1 Classifications of hyperbole

Within the rhetorical figures, there are those of thought, which are based on themeaning of words or phrases to express a message in a special way One of them ishyperbole, which differs from other rhetorical figures because it exaggerates thefacts, either maximizing them or minimizing them, in order to capture the attention

of the listeners and obtain a greater expressive force

Regarding the meaning of words and phrases, there are two major features ofhyperbole as syntactic and semantic senses that need taking into account

3.1.1.1 Syntactic features of hyperbole

Syntax is the arrangement of words in sentences, clauses, and phrases, and the study

of the relationship of sentences’ component parts In a language such as English andVietnamese, the main device for showing the relationship among words is wordorder:

Examples:

The girl loves the boy

The subject is in the initial position, and the object follows the verb Transposingthem will change the meaning of the sentence:

The boy loves the girl

It is obvious that word order determines the meaning of the sentences

Hyperbole in terms of words

Firstly, the structures of hyperbole in words will be dealt with: Hyperbole in wordshappens rarely Words subdivide into two types: simple words and compoundwords, so hyperbole in words also has two types, they are hyperbole in simplewords and hyperbole in compound words

In simple words

A simple word is one that only consists of root morpheme: ―school, boy, table, big,

blue, talk, begin, next, etc

Examples:

A simple word is one that only consists of root morpheme: ―school, boy, table, big,

blue, talk, begin, next, etc

Examples:

- “But thy eternal summer shall not fade.”

The use of the word ‘eternal’ is an exaggeration People do not live forever,

and his beloved’s beauty or love will eventually fade and die The final two

lines of the sonnet continue this hyperbolic concept:

(W Shakespeare – Sonnet 18)

- “They only know this and that and pass to and fro and think ever and anon I’d

hate for my mother to know I was skinning these weak-minded ones She raised me

better”

(In -Babes in jungle - O Henry)

“skinning” is refreshing the mind.

In compound words

Compound words are formed when two or more words are put together to form anew word with a new meaning They can function as different parts of speech,which can dictate what form the compound takes on A compound word is one that

has at least two roots, with or without derivational morphemes: blackboard, handbag, greenhouse, bluebottle, goody-goody, etc

Examples:

- His classmates laughed at him, saying he had a pea-sized brain.

(In daily conversation)

“pea-sized brain” is a hyperbolic compound word which means a lack of

intelligence

- They think I’m a hayseed and won’t have anything to do with me

(The poet and the peasant- O Henry)The meaning of “hayseed” is very useless and invaluable

Hyperbole in terms of phrases

The second is structures of hyperbole in phrases Phrases include adjective phrases,noun phrases, verb phrases and adverbial phrases, so, hyperbole in phrases has alsosuch types This is the most expression of hyperbole in literature

Verb phrase:

A verb phrase is a word group that includes a main verb and its auxiliaries (helpingverbs) It functions as the verb in a sentence, even when it has more than one word.Example:

In American folk lore, Paul Bunyan’s stories are full of hyperboles In one instance,

he exaggerates winter by saying:

- “Well now, one winter it was so cold that all the geese flew backward and all the fish moved south and even the snow turned blue Late at night, it got so frigid that all spoken words froze solid afore they could be heard People had to wait until

sunup to find out what folks were talking about the night before.”

(Paul Bunyan - Babe the Blue Ox)Freezing of the spoken words at night in winter, and then warming them up in thewarmth of the sun during the day are examples of hyperbole, which has beeneffectively used in this short excerpt from an American folktale

- “I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you

Till China and Africa meet, And the river jumps over the mountain And the salmon sing in the street,

I’ll love you till the ocean

Is folded and hung up to dry.”

The use of hyperbole can be seen in the above lines in the meeting of China

and Africa, the jumping of the river over the mountain, the singing of salmon in thestreet, and the ocean being folded and hung up to dry are exaggerations, notpossible in real life

- At the end of their talk Hart was willing to stake the judgment, experience and

savings of his four years of vaudeville that “Mice Will Play” was blossom into perennial flower in the garden of the circuits

(O Henry - Strictly business)

It means that Mice Will Play was very famous and successful a long time in the circuits

Noun phrase

Noun phrases are groups of two or more words within a sentence that functiongrammatically as nouns They consist of a noun and other words that modify thenoun Some grammarians also consider a single-word noun to be a noun phrase,while more traditional grammars hold that a phrase must be made up of two ormore words

Hyperbole is also often used in noun phrases as followings:

- If you ever lose your mind, Billy, and get too old to do honest swindling among grown men, go to New York In the West a sucker is every minute; but in New York

they appear in chunks of rose – you can’t count’ em!”

(O Henry - Babes in jungle)

“Chunks of rose” means very popularly and crowdedly.

- "Please sit down because having produced nine million award shows, I know the

producer's up there saying, 'Hurry, say thanks fast'."

(Dick Clark - Daytime Emmy Award Acceptance Address)

“Nine million award shows” is the way Dick Clark exaggerates to express the great

number of shows they will run afterwards

- Also, “The People, Yes" is a poem by Carl Sandburg, whose funny quips are oftencalled Sandburgers As in To Kill a Mockingbird, Sandburg uses a hyperbolic line

in form of a noun phrase to emphasize a slow pace of life:

"It's a slow burg-I spent a couple of weeks there one day."

In other noun phrase, O Henry overstates the attractiveness of the sport as

“one paradise” This helps to attract reader’s attention and imagination:

- What to me is war and politics? This sport is one paradise My country it have

other brave heroes to continue the fighting… It is here I have found one angel Let

us buy the Hotel Esparnol and you shall be mine, and the money shall not be waste

on guns‖ (This is the conversation between General Falcon and Dios)

(O Henry - The gold that glittered)

Adverbial phrases

In linguistics, an adverbial phrase is a multi-word expression operating adverbially:its syntactic function is to modify other expressions, including verbs, adjectives,adverbs, adverbials, and sentences Adverbial phrases can be divided into twotypes: complement adverbs and modifier adverbs

Popular humorist and columnist Dave Barry paints a flamboyant picture with this silly, entertaining hyperbole in form of adverbial phrase:

- "A man can have a belly you could house commercial aircraft in and a grand total of eight greasy strands of hair, which he grows real long and combs across the top of his head so that he looks, when viewed from above, like an egg in the grasp of a giant spider, plus this man can have B.O to the point where he

interferes with radio transmissions, and he will still be convinced that, in terms of attractiveness, he is borderline Don Johnson."

(Dave Barry - Revenge of the Pork Person)

- For she stood with a divided heart The fresh, unforgettable, virginal love for her

bridegroom was hers; the treasured, sacred, honored memory of her first choice

filled half her soul She leaned to that pure feeling

(O Henry - The thing‘s the play)

In the prose, O Henry hyperbolically describes Helen’s pain with broken

love The phrase is to emphasize her suffering

The exaggeration in Parker's Back by Flannery O'Connor helps to set up thecharacterization:

- "The skin on her face was as thin and drawn as tight as the skin of onion and her eyes were gray and sharp like the points of two picks."

(Flannery O'Connor - Parker's Back)

Hyperbole in terms of sentences

- In “Make the whole world kin”, O Henry exaggerates the medicinal method that

he has used a lot of snake’s oil to treat his pain in the following complex sentences:

“If all the snakes I’ve used the oil of was strung out in a row they’d reach eight times as far as Saturn, and the rattles could be heard at Valparaiso, Indiana, and back.”

(O Henry - Make the whole world kin)

It means that the burglar exaggerated the medicinal method that he has used a lot ofsnakes’ oil to treat his pain

- By the following sentences, Nguyen Trai overstates the strength of Lam Son troopthat terrifies Ngo invaders:

Gươm mài đá, đá núi cũng mòn Voi uống nước, nước sông phải cạn

(Nguyễn Trãi – Bình ngô đại cáo)The above – mentioned sentences are full of hyperbole when the writer exaggeratessuch the strength of Lam Son troop that a sharpened sword makes a mountain rockworn away and their elephants are so strong that they can drink up water of allrivers

- “Here’s the smell of the blood still All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand Oh, Oh, Oh!”

(W Shakespeare - Macbeth)Lady Macbeth's hyperbolic statement makes it clear how deep her regret lies Shehas clearly accepted that there is no repentance for her part in the vicious andbloody slaying of the king It is for this reason that she imagines seeing Duncan'sblood on her hands She believes that she can actually smell it and that it hasbecome so immersed into her skin that nothing will be able to disguise or removeits smell

3.1.1.2 Semantic features of hyperbole

In semantic feature, the hyperbolic meaning of the object is expressed by using thescale of positive overstating and negative overstating expression, and the scale ofoverstatement in hyperbole is based on the quality scale and the quantity scale(Ferré, 2014).The object can be of positive or negative expression The aim ofexaggeration is to intensify qualitative or quantitative aspects of the object to such a

degree as to show its utter absurdity At least one of those two scales will bepresent when using hyperbole (Burgers et al, 2016).

Quality - based hyperbole

Quality scale refers to the evaluation of the object (McCarthy & Carter, 2004), bothpositive and negative evaluation are hyperbolically used to supply clearer picturesfor readers’ better acquisition of the objects

Positive evaluation, which conveys the speaker’s approval, admiration or praise,comprises the following semantic fields:

• Idea of life, heaven: revived, reviving, vital, paradise

• Idea of perfection, magnificence: ideal, excellent, great, wonderful

• Idea of splendour, beauty: lovely, gorgeous, precious, brilliant

• Idea of power, government: supreme, sovereign, imperial, royal

- The semantic fields falling under the heading of negative evaluation, whichexpresses disapproval, criticism or condemnation, are clearly not only morenumerous but also varied

• Ideas of chaos, disorder: mess, mess up, illegible

• Ideas of badness, evil: worst, wicked, relentless, obnoxious

• Ideas of frightfulness: horrible, terribly, terrible, an awful (lot of)

• Ideas of violence, destruction: disaster, a recipe for disaster, disgrace, devastated,ruin, erupted, blasting away, thrown on the scrap heap

• Idea of sorrow or pain: pathetic, sickening, starve, starving, freezing, can’tbreathe, drained,

Examples:

1 Today is the best day of my life!

2 Today is the worst day of my life!

The quality scale governs hyperbole in that the literal meaning must be moreextreme than the intended meaning Sentences (1) and (2) are all possiblehyperboles Hence, (1) evaluates the day in an extreme positive meaning On theother hand, (2) evaluates the day in an extreme negative expression So, bothutterances can be judged as hyperboles The intended meaning determines whichone the speaker uses If the speaker wants to convey a positive meaning, then (1) ismore appropriate While if the speaker wants to convey a negative meaning, (2)will be used

Other examples are presented for better insights into this scale application:

(3) That was the best concert in the history of the known universe!

(4) That was the worst concert in the history of the known universe!

In (3), the speaker takes up the most extreme positive evaluation possible whendiscussing a concert, while (3) contains the most negative evaluation possible about

a concert While it may be true that a specific concert is either strikingly good orbad, it is relatively unlikely that the concert the speaker attended is worthy of theprize of best/worst concert in history This makes utterances (3) and (4) likelycandidates for hyperbole Because the hyperbolic expressions contain a qualitativedimension (in this case: a rating of the concert’s quality), they can be consideredhyperboles of quality

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee uses hyperbole to negatively emphasize theslow, dull pace of life in the town:

"A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County."

The writer exaggerates the slow pace of life by leading readers to the imagination

of a life without feelings and aims How boring it is!

In contrary, when showing up hurried and excited lifestyle expected, Xuan Dieu (aVietnamese famous poem) gets link it to other urgent actions:

Tôi muốn tắt nắng đi Cho màu đừng nhạt mất;

Tôi muốn buộc gió lại Cho hương đừng bay đi.

(Xuan Dieu – Voi vang)

On the one hand, on purpose of writing about the old age of a mother, some objects(literal meaning) are shown as a close comparison in order to describe how old she(intended meaning) is:

“Mẹ già như chuối ba hương

Như xôi nếp một, như đường mía lau”

(Ca dao Viet Nam)

On the other hand, when describing the beauty and youth of Thuy Kieu (TruyenKieu), Nguyen Du uses hyperbole in positive way in comparison with certainbeauty standards:

“Làn thu thủy nét xuân sơn

Hoa ghen thua thắm, liễu hờn kém xanh Một hai nghiêng nước nghiêng thành

Sắc đành đòi một tài đành họa hai"

(Nguyen Du – Truyen Kieu)

The quote “Làn thu thủy nét xuân sơn” is to exaggerate the beauty of Thuy Kieu’

eyes which are as clear as water of the lakes in autumn and her eyebrows areextremely delicate to be compared with the lines of the mountains in spring

“Hoa ghen thua thắm” means that flowers are envious of Thuy Kieu’s beauty

when they are not so beautiful and gentle as her

“Liễu hờn kém xanh” means willow leaves are envious with Thuy Kieu’s beauty

when they are not so young as her

“Nghiêng nước nghiêng thành” means that her country lurches for its admiration

for her sheer beauty

Quantity – based hyperbole

The second kind of scale illustrating the meaning of the object is the quantity scale.The quantity scale refers to the value of the object that is being discussed(CanoMora,2009) A hyperbole of quantity contains a quantitative scale containingexaggerated quantitative information McCarthy and Carter (2004: 170) have shownthat “overall numerical expressions and expressions of accumulation and quantityseem to generate very rich hyperboles” They have found that amount words, inparticular words denoting accumulation of things, such as masses of, stacks of,heaps of, loads of, tons of and piles of, are very productive strategies in the creation

of hyperbole

Example:

The quantitative hyperbolic statement can be used to convey a meaning using time.Sentences (1A-B) are examples of that:

1 A It took him a whole day to type five words on the computer.

B It took him a whole week to type five words on the computer.

The intended meaning of both sentences is that it took him a very long time Thespeaker and the hearer do not expect that what has been uttered is literally true Itmeans ‘He spent his time from sunrise to sunset typing five words on thecomputer’, is a more extreme way of saying ‘It took him a very long time to type afew words on the computer’ The description of the event is much more extreme

than the actual experience Actually, the measure is not governed by any rules Itcan be more, or less extreme than what has been uttered Therefore, both statementsare hyperboles He exaggerated his action to imply that it took him more time thanexpected, which should not be the case If the speaker uses the word ‘week’ which

is more exaggerated than ‘day’ this is done to convey that he is more annoyed Bothstatements convey different meanings with the same kind of hyperboles – quantityscale (about time scale) The speaker can say that it took him a day, a week, amonth, or a year This will affect the negative attitude, hence it causes negativemeaning (that implies it took him too long to do the task)

Whereas in (1C) the meaning has shifted from being negative into being positive:

1 C It took him a second to five three words on the computer.

While there is no way that a person will spend the whole day typing five words(1A) or even the whole week (1B), (1C) is not also the case Nevertheless, thedifference between (1A – B) and (1C) is that their impossibilities in terms ofhyperbole are divided into two distinguished scales conveying different meanings

In fact, the average male types 44 words per minute (Ratatype, n.d.) Thus, they caninterpret (1A – B) as negative meaning and (1C) as positive meaning of hyperbole.The quantity semantic field, involving numbers and words which have becomemore or less standardised as units of measure, is divided into four subfields:

• Time measure: period units: ten times, a second, a minute, ten minutes, an hour,

the evening, two days, the weekend, a week, six months, months and months andmonths, ages, ages and ages and ages

• Length/linear measures: two inches, an inch.

• Other numerical expressions: two thousand, four thousand, not half as much,

half a million, one and a half million, three hundred million

More examples:

- “There was an Old Person of Dutton,

Whose head was as small as a button;

So to make it look big he purchased a wig, And rapidly rushed about Dutton.”

(Edward Lear - An Old Person Of Dutton)

It is apparently impossible for the case but the writer overstates the size (quantityscale) of Dutton’s head in a negative way in order to describe how small his head iswhen it is compared with a button

- “This conversation lasted no more than a few seconds It seemed like an eternity”

(Elie Wiesel – Night)

When Elie implies that the conversation felt like an eternity, he does not literallymean a whole eternity; no one can relate to such a length of time He uses such anexaggeration to negatively convey the unrealistic feeling of length of theconversation, but surely does not truly mean an eternity, making this a hyperbole

- Or: “I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse”

It is impossible for a person to eat a whole horse in one sitting (amountexaggeration) The speaker knows that but still uses the expression to convey ‘I amvery hungry’ The hearers understand this statement as a positive hyperbole Theyare aware that it is impossible for the speaker to eat a whole horse Theyunderstand that the speaker intended a different meaning which is less extremethan what has been uttered

Đêm tháng năm chưa nằm đã sáng.

Ngày tháng mười chưa cười đã tối

(Tuc ngu Viet nam)The way that the time of May night and October day is exaggerated to express how

short it is impresses listeners They are compared with a quick time (time measure)

that before a person can put his back or smile This overstatement leaves readers thefeeling of time is so fast that we have no chance of enjoying it

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Overview of hyperbole in Shakespeare’s and Nam Cao’s literal works 3.1.1 William Shakespeare’s writing style

Some of the most famous lines in the history of literature come from the writings ofWilliam Shakespeare As well, some of the most famous literary devices also comefrom William Shakespeare He produced many highly-praised stories of humandrama, comedy, and romantic sonnets and his work continues to influence writers tothis day Shakespeare created the majority of his popular plays and stories in thelate 16th century For many years he enjoyed writing comedies and historical playsuntil he found his true love: writing tragedies and dark dramas, such as Hamlet andMacbeth

The playwright, poet, and actor, William Shakespeare, was born in ElizabethanEngland in the 16th century He wrote plays that appealed to both the commonerand the queen, and he wrote as well as performed in his plays His plays were

performed in London at the Globe Theater and in Stratford at The New Place Theater He is referred to as William Shakespeare, Shakespeare, or the Bard by

countless fans of his work around the world Shakespeare wrote his earlier plays inthe traditional style of the time He relied heavily on using hyperbole for thepurpose of creating an impression, communicating an emotion, or adding emphasis

to a work Hyperbole can bring literary works to life with exaggeration, and is oftenused alongside other techniques such as similes or metaphors

Shakespeare has used the figure hyperbole a number of times in his play 'Antonyand Cleopatra' in order to intensify the effect and on the point where the emphasiswas being given Shakespeare uses hyperbole for the same reason that he uses anyother figure of speech to make his writing more powerful In Sorrow Hamlet hissorrow over his father's death and mother's remarriage to his uncle is hyperbolicallydescribed.Shakespeare also uses hyperbole to show the deep guilt Macbeth andLady Macbeth both feel for their horrible acts

3.1.2 Nam Cao’s writing style

Nam Cao is the writer of critical realism In his whole life, he created many typicalcharacters with deformed and heteromorphic figures and severe fates like Chi Pheo,

Truong Ru, Binh Tu, Thi No, Lang Ran…They are step by step lost their humandignities and had a long distance /separated to other people.

His work focused on the life of farmers and the lower middle class before theAugust revolution Using the forensic skills of an investigative reporter, he capturedthe essence of a period defined by hustle and improvisation during rampant famine,

as well as a spiritual longing to escape the life of what he called people “dying invain, dying without actually living.”

Much like his own characters, Nam Cao struggled financially, and lived his lifeevery inch the struggling writer until, perhaps for the first time ever, he struck luckwith the publication of “Chi Pheo.” It is said that upon receiving the story, the DoiMoi publishing house threw it on the slush pile and then the trash bin where it waschanced upon by the respected novelist and journalist Vu Bang, a sub-editor at thetime, who pushed for printing the story and remained a strong advocate of Nam Caohis entire life

The writer often enters the lives of those who are of the lowest and weakest class incontemporary society, especially, having insights into the suffering of the depressedsouls, their dignity is offended and have strongly affirmed their beautiful natureeven when they were overwhelmed to lose their human form and even humanity.Nam Cao uses hyperbole in his literary works as one of the most effective tools toexaggeratedly describe the misery of his characters’ lives or their humorouslywritten manners that should be sympathized rather than objected to Moreover, thereality of his contemporary society is fully exposed thanks to hyperbole with hissharp writing style, both satirical and painful, that greatly impresses readers

3.2 Data analysis (on syntactic and semantic features of hyperbole used in literary

works by Shakespeare and Nam Cao)

After collecting about 240 English literary works written by Shakespeare and 240Vietnamese ones created by Nam Cao from books, dictionaries or websites, ect.They are categorized into two main aspects: syntactic and semantic features

The study is carried out basing on the qualitative and quantitative approach to finddown the similarities and differences in syntactic and semantic features of literaryworks written by Shakespeare and Nam Cao

3.2.1 Syntactic features of hyperbole used in Shakespeare’s and Nam Cao’s literary works:

Table 3.1: Syntactic features of literary works by Shakespeare and Nam Cao

3.2.2 Semantic Features of hyperbole used in Shakespeare’s and Nam Cao’s works:

 In terms of phrases, the two famous writers prefer hyperbole usage in phrases to

in the other forms (about 50 percent of phrase use compared with other forms) inwhich noun phrases are of the most often used by both authors

Examples:

- “I drew to part them : in the instant came

The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepared,

Which, as he breathed defiance to my ears” (W Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet)

The noun phrase “the fiery Tybalt” is an overstatement showing how

aggressiveness of Tybalt, the son of Lady Capulet's brother, Juliet's short-temperedfirst cousin, and Romeo's rival, is in the fight with Benvolio

- ''So excellent a king; that was to this,

Hyperion to a satyr''

(W Shakespeare – Hamlet)

He uses the hyperbolic phrase “Hyperion to a satyr” here to compare his father to

Hyperion, a Greek god who was the father of Helios the sun god While Hamletuses the quality scale of badness to negatively describe his uncle as a satyr, awoodland creature with horse-like characteristics who engaged in revelry anddebauchery, his respectable father is preferably compared with Hyperion

- In Act 3 Scene 4, when talking to Gertrude, his mother, Hamlet calls Claudius:

''A murderer and a villain

A slave that is not twentieth part the tithe

Of your precedent lord''

(W Shakespeare – Hamlet)This language is hyperbolic because Hamlet exaggerates how terrible he thinks his

uncle is To Hamlet, Claudius is not even a ''twentieth part the tithe'' that his father

was In the hyperbolic phrase, a tithe, according to the Church, is ten percent ofone's annual earnings Hamlet calls his uncle not even twenty percent of ten percent

of how great the previous king had been Hamlet also exaggerates by callingClaudius a ''slave.'' He uses this language to again imply that Claudius is on acompletely different level that of a slave of no importance than his kingly father

- In Act 3 Scene 4, Hamlet also uses hyperbole to express his sorrow over hisfather's death and mother's remarriage to his uncle Hamlet recalls how great hisfather was as he talks to Gertrude Showing Gertrude a picture of his father, he says:

''See, what a grace was seated on this brow?

Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself

(W Shakespeare –Hamlet)

He uses absolute scale hyperbole in terms of phrases (noun phrase with “Hyperion’scurls; “the front of Jove himself”) when comparing his father to Greek gods likeHyperion, Jove, and Mars Hamlet uses language to remember his father as a perfectman while still grieving his mother's remarriage

- Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,

Having some business, do entreat her eyes

To twinkle in their spheres till they return

(W Shakespeare –Romeo and Juliet)Romeo's use of celestial imagery, which is any language that conjures a vision,smell, sound, feeling, and/or taste, suggests that he finds Juliet's beauty other-worldly By linking Juliet's eyes with "two of the fairest stars in heaven," Romeo isexpressing the depth of his infatuation with Juliet, and he believes her beauty to be

as deep and unknowable as the universe

- O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art

As glorious to this night, being o'er my head

As is a winged messenger of heaven

Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes

Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him

When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds And sails upon the bosom of the air.

(W Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet)

The quote was spoken by Romeo in Act II, Scene 2, the famous balcony scene Hecompares Juliet as a bright angel and considers her as glorious to the night as awinged messenger of heaven Romeo is saying how wonderful (glorious) Juliet is

He is asking her to speak again because she is like an angel from heaven, since she

is above him To call her an Angel implies that she is beautiful, good, andsomewhat magical

- “Mặt rỗ tổ ong, trán thấp và bóp lại ở hai bên, tóc cờm cợm dở ngắn dở dài, mắt

ti hí nhưng sáng như mắt vọ tất cả những cái ấy vào hùa với cái mũi ngắn và to hếch lên như mũi hổ phù, đôi lưỡng quyền cao trên bờ những cái má trũng như hai cái hố, những cái xương hàm nổi bật lên, và bộ răng cải mả nhai xương rau ráu…”

(Nam Cao – Nua dem)

“Mặt rỗ tổ ong” is pork – marked face

“Mũi hổ phù” is a big and coarse nose

“Răng cải mả” is a kind of teeth which is very big and unbalanced

In his writing, Nam Cao uses noun phrase hyperbole to vividly describe hischaracters (such as Ms Loi) to make a great impression on readers about theirpoverty and pain

- In the beginning of story “Con meo”, hyperbole is used clearly:

“Anh cu vừa ở ruộng về Hai người cùng mỏi mệt, hai người cùng bứt rứt Một

người ngồi gãi cái đầu tổ quạ đến mấy tháng nay chưa gội”

(Nam Cao – Con meo)

“Đầu tổ quạ” is one of the most typical hyperbolical images in Vietnamese The

bold noun phrase means that the hair is very ruffled and uncombed

- In the extract described Nam Tho- a character has the tragic fate, Nam Cao alsoused hyperbole appropriate like:

“Nam Thọ vốn là thằng đầu bò đầu bướu”

(Nam Cao – Chi Pheo)

The noun phrase “Thằng đầu bò đầu bướu” means that Nam Tho is a hooligan guy

who does not know what frightening is, he does anything without abiding by law

 However, exaggeration in form of adjective phrases is proved to be least focused

on by both famous literary authors (with just about three and four percent of nearly

50 percent of phrase use)

Examples:

- "My bounty is as boundless as the sea."

(W Shakespeares – Romeo & Juliet)

The adjective phrase “as boundless as the sea” is a way of Juliet’s emphasis on her

endless love for Romeo and that the more love she gives to him, the more love shereceives Their love is forever and the cycle of giving and receiving love is infinitefor both of them

“Mà mấy khi được một nơi mát như thế, mát rợn rợn thịt, sung sướng quá”

(Nam Cao – Chi Pheo)The bold words showed Thi No‘s feeling when she was sitting in the garden nearChi Pheo‘s house where it is strongly windy It makes her nearly cold

Đức - the son of Thien Loi was also well- described by Nam Cao

- “Có thể nói nó lớn nhanh hơn những đứa trẻ được bú no sữa mẹ Nó múp míp

nhẵn nhụi, kháu kháu lạ! Nó hiền như đất, hiền như con những nhà thiếu ăn”.

(Nam Cao – Nua dem)

How beautiful a child is! The adjective phrase “hiền như đất” expresses that he is a

very docile boy

“Go ask his name: If he be married

My grave is like my wedding bed.”

Basically, she’s saying that she will never marry, if she can not marry him Theexaggerated clause helps Juliet show her love with Romeo as if she buried herself inthe wedding bed with him

- The quality of mercy is not strain'd, it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven.”

(W Shakespeares – The Merchant of Venice)