Literary notes about Infirm (AI summary)
The term “infirm” is often used in literature to evoke a state of physical or even moral weakness, serving as a subtle marker of decay or vulnerability. In some narratives, it describes the debilitated condition of characters—whether due to age, illness, or the ravages of time—as seen in portrayals of elderly characters who struggle with their diminishing strength [1, 2, 3, 4]. In historical and religious contexts, “infirm” frequently appears to emphasize both the frailty of human bodies and, at times, the weakness of human resolve, as in chronicles and theological musings where leaders or common folk are depicted as weakened by circumstance or fate [5, 6, 7, 8]. Beyond literal descriptions, the word is also used metaphorically to suggest an insufficiency of purpose or judgment, enriching dramatic tension and character complexity in works that span from Shakespearean tragedies to philosophical essays [9, 10, 11]. Thus, the usage of “infirm” in literature serves as a powerful tool to illustrate and deepen the portrayal of vulnerability and decline.
- Perhaps his mother now occupied a poorer seat, or possibly she had grown infirm and could not reach the church alone.
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens - He fell down, this morning, a handsome stately gentleman, somewhat infirm, but of a fine presence, and with a well-filled face.
— from Bleak House by Charles Dickens - His infirm and sick old father was left without anyone to help him.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - This steadfast believer in Christ was eighty-two years of age, and exceedingly infirm; from whence it was supposed, that he could scarcely be heard.
— from Fox's Book of Martyrs by John Foxe - In the same year died Tremerig, the Welsh bishop, soon after the plundering; who was Bishop Athelstan's substitute, after he became infirm.
— from The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - In the year 1306, in the woods of Luneburgh, some wild people of the Vened race were allowed to bury alive their infirm and useless parents.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - The number of widows, of the infirm, and of the poor, who were maintained by the oblations of the faithful, amounted to fifteen hundred.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - He did become mortal, not rendering the divinity of the Word infirm, but assuming the infirmity of flesh.
— from The City of God, Volume I by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine - The literalism of her mind appears fully in two contemptuous speeches where she dismisses his imaginings; in the murder scene: Infirm of purpose!
— from Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth by A. C. Bradley - He is no longer 'infirm of purpose': he becomes domineering, even brutal, or he becomes a cool pitiless hypocrite.
— from Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth by A. C. Bradley - But they do me wrong; for experience, rather, daily shows us, on the contrary, that a strong memory is commonly coupled with infirm judgment.
— from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne
