Literary notes about Arrest (AI summary)
The word “arrest” strides effortlessly between literal and metaphorical realms in literature. At times it denotes the physical act of detaining an individual, a usage evident in accounts where characters are taken into custody or subjected to legal proceedings ([1], [2], [3]). In other instances, it signals a halt or interruption—whether in speech that ceases abruptly ([4]), a biological process being stopped ([5]), or even progress itself being stalled ([6], [7]). Its adaptability allows writers from Bram Stoker to Arthur Conan Doyle to use the term as both a tool for advancing plot and as a metaphor that captures attention, encapsulating pivotal moments of tension and transformation ([8], [9], [10]).
- I told him all the circumstances of my arrest, and of my imprisonment in that filthy place.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - Javert was just getting out of bed when the messenger handed him the order of arrest and the command to produce the prisoner.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - I got into the carriage again, and drove to the advocate, who gave the order for arrest to a policeman, who was to execute it.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - 'We owe Mary some money,' said Mr. Hale, before Margaret's sharp pressure on his arm could arrest the words.
— from North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell - Both poisons arrest the heart in systole.
— from The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by T. H. Pardo de Tavera - With the exception of extraction by primitive and painful methods, nothing efficient is done to arrest the progress of decay.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - And nothing could arrest his slow progress.
— from Swann's Way by Marcel Proust - “Who dares to arrest a Knight of the Temple of Zion, within the girth of his own Preceptory, and in the presence of the Grand Master?
— from Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott - In the moment when Madam Mina said those words that arrest both our understanding, an inspiration came to me.
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker - There was a slight noise behind her and she turned just in time to seize a small boy by the slack of his roundabout and arrest his flight.
— from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Complete by Mark Twain
