Despite the fact that the consequences of emotional actions are a central theme in British nineteenth-century sensation fiction, studies of the genre have generally focused on thrilling and socially disruptive elements of the genre. Attention to descriptions of transgressive behaviour and in particular women’s violations of patriarchal norms has enabled interpretations that endow the genre with a feminist agenda. Reading the novels with a focus on how emotions are represented, however, demonstrates an underlying patriarchal pattern that limits the potential for feminist interpretations.This article focuses on the clusters of metaphors used to express emotion in Ellen Wood’s sensation novel East Lynne (1861–1862). Close readings of text examples in combination with analyses of metaphorical expressions highlight the novel’s ideological ambiguities and ambivalences concerning gender and emotion.