Literary notes about Domineer (AI summary)
The term “domineer” appears in literature as a vivid expression of exerting oppressive power or control, appearing in contexts as varied as personal relationships to societal structures. In Dickens’ narrative, for instance, it signals a refusal to be subjugated by a master’s authority ([1]), while Livy uses it to underscore the dynamics of power among the patricians ([2]). Hobbes extends its metaphorical reach by describing supernatural forces that similarly dominate entire regions ([3]). Chekhov’s work brings the concept into the everyday, portraying a workplace where one man tyrannizes over his clerks and customers ([4]). Rousseau contrasts the idea of violent domination with forced submission to caprices ([5]), and personal narratives such as those by Helen Keller and George Eliot reveal its presence in intimate relationships—whether as a manifestation of one partner’s tyranny or as a reason for another’s eventual rejection of such control ([6], [7]).
- ‘I shall, soon enough, be put out, though, if anybody tries to domineer it over me: and so I give you notice, master.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens - And are you not to know any contest against the patricians, except how you may suffer them to domineer over you?
— from The History of Rome, Books 01 to 08 by Livy - The Fairies also have their enchanted Castles, and certain Gigantique Ghosts, that domineer over the Regions round about them.
— from Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes - He sits all his life at his work, likes it only because he can domineer over his clerks and get the better of his customers.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - Some, it is said, would violently domineer over others, who would groan under a servile submission to their caprices.
— from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - It pleased me to domineer over her, and she generally submitted to my tyranny rather than risk a hand-to-hand encounter.
— from The Story of My Life by Helen Keller - "Let her go, and the sooner the better; she won't be trying to domineer over me again in a hurry."
— from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot