Literary notes about Celibate (AI summary)
In literature, the term “celibate” is deployed with a range of nuanced connotations—from a literal state of abstinence to a marker of social or emotional detachment. Writers often employ it to highlight contrasts between expected behavior and lived reality, as when a character is noted to be far from celibate [1] or imbued with a brooding loneliness that hints at unfulfilled desires [2]. In other instances, celibacy stands as a symbolic banner for religious devotion and institutional identity [3][4], while sometimes its use is ironic, suggesting that the strictures associated with it are more a social construct than a natural state [5][6]. This multifaceted usage allows authors to interrogate themes of morality, isolation, and the tension between individual impulses and societal norms [7][8].
- He was far from being celibate, poor man!
— from Madonna Mary by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant - To wonder what untold disappointment, what unwritten history of sorrow, has left me the lonely, brooding celibate you see?
— from The Lady Paramount by Henry Harland - But the venerable celibate speaks for himself and in keeping with the character, not for Shakespeare.
— from Shakespeare's Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare - Your peaceful sisterhoods were all celibate, Jeff, and under vows of obedience.
— from Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - A dissenting branch called Nadiapanthi has now arisen in Raipur, all of whom are celibate.
— from The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 1 by R. V. (Robert Vane) Russell - Whatever the reason, Ferrier remained strictly celibate.
— from A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle - The instinct of the celibate warned him to hold back.
— from Dubliners by James Joyce - He remembered well, with the curious patient memory of the celibate, the first casual caresses her dress, her breath, her fingers had given him.
— from Dubliners by James Joyce
