Literary notes about brutal (AI summary)
The word brutal is often used to evoke an uncompromising harshness or raw savagery in literature. It can describe characters whose very natures are marked by instinctive cruelty or moral decay, as when a man's innate roughness is revealed in his actions ([1], [2]). At other times, brutal serves to accentuate the impact of violent events or the severity of a societal condition, such as when describing the overwhelming cruelty in a setting or a character’s treatment of others ([3], [4]). Moreover, writers sometimes use the term to inject a biting tone into dialogue or narrative descriptions, adding a layer of unyielding realism to their work ([5], [6]).
- (died 1668), a man of great pluck, but unfortunately given to drunkenness and licentious living, which developed brutal qualities in him.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - Why should a human being, deprived of his reason, ever become so brutal in character, as some do, unless he has the brute nature within him?"
— from The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin - With words and wicked herbs from humankind Had alter’d, and in brutal shapes confin’d.
— from The Aeneid by Virgil - As they stood there now by Legree, they seemed an apt illustration of the fact that brutal men are lower even than animals.
— from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe - Did you make a scene with her?" "I was brutal, Harry—perfectly brutal.
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - When he told me he was in love with me, there was something brutal in his face, like a Circassian."
— from The Lady with the Dog and Other Stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
