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Literary notes about abhorrence (AI summary)

The word “abhorrence” is used in literature to evoke an intense, often moral, repulsion toward actions or conditions that defy accepted virtues. Authors deploy it to express both personal revulsion and societal condemnation, as in the disdain for disguise, treachery, or oppressive institutions [1][2]. It frequently contrasts with positive emotions—spoken of alongside love, respect, or self-admiration—to underline the depth of a character’s detestation, whether aimed at an individual’s cruelty or perceived historical wrongs [3][4][5]. In some narratives, the term captures the paradox of internal self-loathing and the external denunciation of corrupt practices, thereby enriching complex character dynamics and underscoring larger themes of social and political decay [6][7][8]. Through these varied uses, “abhorrence” not only characterizes emotional extremes but also serves as a sharp instrument for critiquing the failings of society and human behavior.
  1. But disguise of every sort is my abhorrence.
    — from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  2. But they found a country without a friend, a nation in which the names of Rome and Union were pronounced with abhorrence.
    — from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
  3. I wished to see him again, that I might wreak the utmost extent of abhorrence on his head and avenge the deaths of William and Justine.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  4. As her successor in that house, she regarded her with jealous abhorrence.
    — from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  5. I am content to suffer alone, while my sufferings shall endure: when I die, I am well satisfied that abhorrence and opprobrium should load my memory.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  6. Let him inspire them with abhorrence of the man-stealer—the slaveholder.
    — from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass
  7. Even at that time Hamilton held it in abhorrence.
    — from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
  8. This roused the people to a still greater abhorrence of the tyrant’s memory, since his cruelty continued in use even after he was dead.
    — from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius

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