Literary notes about compensate (AI summary)
The word "compensate" has been used in literature to signify the act of making up for a loss, deficiency, or imbalance in both tangible and intangible realms. In some texts, it carries an emotional or moral charge—for instance, Frederick Douglass reflects on how a fulfillment of desire might fully compensate for lost comforts ([1]), and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein employs it to underscore the deep desire for revenge as a substitute for personal anguish ([2], [3], [4]). In other instances, compensation takes on a more practical or economic tone. Authors such as James Joyce ([5]), E. M. Forster ([6]), and Sir Ebenezer Howard ([7], [8]) use the term to discuss the balancing of material disadvantages or the settlement of monetary obligations. Moreover, writers like Fyodor Dostoyevsky in Crime and Punishment ([9], [10]) explore the notion of compensation as a form of moral or legal redress, while others, including Walter Scott ([11]) and Alexandre Dumas ([12], [13], [14]), illustrate it as a means of repaying emotional or social debts. This semantic range—from compensatory delight or revenge to addressing practical deficits—demonstrates how literature adapts the concept of compensation to comment on both the human condition and broader societal structures.
- So strong was my desire, that I thought a gratification of it would fully compensate for whatever loss of comforts I should sustain by the exchange.
— from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass - My daily vows rose for revenge—a deep and deadly revenge, such as would alone compensate for the outrages and anguish I had endured.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - My daily vows rose for revenge—a deep and deadly revenge, such as would alone compensate for the outrages and anguish I had endured.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - My daily vows rose for revenge—a deep and deadly revenge, such as would alone compensate for the outrages and anguish I had endured.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - How did the chanter compensate for this deficiency?
— from Ulysses by James Joyce - Things may be done for which no money can compensate.
— from Howards End by E. M. Forster - in favour of the occupying tenant—the incoming tenant having also to compensate the outgoing tenant for all unexhausted improvements.
— from Garden Cities of To-Morrow by Sir Ebenezer Howard - The one advantage gained—cheap land—seems to be altogether insufficient to compensate for these and other disadvantages.
— from Garden Cities of To-Morrow by Sir Ebenezer Howard - “Perhaps those who have involuntarily caused the accident will agree to compensate you, at least for the loss of his earnings.”
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - “And why should they compensate me?
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - “Alas!” said Rebecca, “what advantages could compensate for such an absolute sacrifice?”
— from Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott - So I shall never be a great man, as he was, but to compensate for that, I shall be a good man, Monsieur de Rochefort, and I hope to prove it to you.”
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - “I will compensate thee for the loss of thy place.”
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - Ah, Maximilian, I may have much to suffer, but I feel as if my grandfather’s look at that moment would more than compensate for all.”
— from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet
