Literary notes about Beck (AI summary)
The word "beck" appears in literature with a remarkable range of applications, serving both as a proper name and as a term denoting command or readiness. In many instances, “Beck” functions simply as a surname, as seen in various characters from Charlotte Brontë’s Villette—Madame Beck, for example, recurs as a central figure whose name becomes synonymous with authority and nurturing guidance [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. In Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, the name “Beck” punctuates urgent calls and exclamations, emphasizing a personal, sometimes impassioned address [6, 7, 8, 9, 10]. Beyond using it as a proper name, authors also exploit the idiomatic phrase “at the beck and call” to evoke subservience or immediate responsiveness, a usage highlighted in texts by Nietzsche and Ibsen [11, 12] and even in evocative natural imagery like a quietly flowing beck in a valley [13]. Additionally, “Beck” appears in scholarly and formal works, sometimes as a reference or citation [14, 15, 16], underscoring its versatility as both a literal and figurative device in literary works.
- ," said Madame Beck, when I came out of class, hot and a little exhausted.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - Oh, Madame Beck!
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - "Must I tell you what I told Modeste Beck—that you do not know me? Must I show and teach you my character?
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - Lucy can just tell Madame Beck this little trait: it is only fair to let her know what she has to expect."
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - I asked him whether his friends, Père Silas and Madame Beck, knew what he had done—whether they had seen my house?
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - help me, Beck!
— from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson - but, by gad, miss, you can speak d——d spiteful words, I can tell you that!—Poor Beck, poor Beck!—'Fore gad, she's quite dumbfoundered!
— from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson - At that he took her in his arms, as if she had been nothing; and carrying her out of the room, she cried out, Beck! Beck!
— from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson - I han't beat you yet; have I, Beck? said she.
— from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson - At that he took her in his arms, as if she had been nothing; and carrying her out of the room, she cried out, Beck! Beck!
— from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson - I should be wise to suit my mood, Not at the beck of other men: God made as stupid as he could The world—well, let me praise him then.
— from Ecce Homo by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - You have me at your beck and call, from this time forward.
— from Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen - Gimmerton chapel bells were still ringing; and the full, mellow flow of the beck in the valley came soothingly on the ear.
— from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë - Beck, T. R. and J. B. Elements of Medical Jurisprudence.
— from Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students by Hans Gross - Beck, von, 179 .
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - À Beck′ett, Gilbert Abbott, English writer, born near London in 1811.
— from The New Gresham Encyclopedia. A to Amide by Various