Deliberate exaggeration, which no one takes literally, to give emphasis to a feeling or a situation.
In The Red and the Black
All my reputation destroyed, annihilated in a second!, Julien thought as he watched the box burn, and my reputation is my only good, it is for it alone that I live... And yet, what a life, my God!
Julien speaks of reputation "destroyed, annihilated in a second" and calls it his "only good", though nothing has happened beyond the burning of a portrait; the exaggeration shows the panic of someone who lives by appearances.
Book I, Chapter 9: A night in the country, Julien Sorel (in thought)
if I refuse, I will despise myself afterward. For the rest of my life I will think about this story with some doubt, and for me a doubt like that is the most humiliating of misfortunes. Was that not what I went through because of Amanda's lover? I think I would forgive a clear crime more easily; once confessed, I would no longer think about it.
Book II, Chapter 15: Will it be a conspiracy?, Julien Sorel (in thought)
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