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Literary notes about debility (AI summary)

The term "debility" has been used in literature to denote various forms of weakness—whether physical, mental, or institutional—and its usage reflects the context of the situation at hand. In some works, such as Montaigne's essays, it appears almost paradoxically as an element that can be acknowledged as part of the natural order of human frailty [1]. In historical and political texts like José Rizal's writing, debility is employed to underscore the isolating and inhibiting effects of conquest [2]. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley vividly depicts the debilitating effects on the individual, as seen in multiple passages from Frankenstein where physical weakness restricts both action and judgment [3, 4, 5]. Medical texts, including those by T. H. Pardo de Tavera and compilations like The New Gresham Encyclopedia, use the term in a diagnostic sense to describe symptoms accompanying various illnesses [6, 7]. Meanwhile, literary figures such as Chekhov and Dickens extend its application to characterize emotional and existential languor [8, 9], and even Edmund Burke and Charlotte Brontë refer to forms of debility that undermine both practical capability and intellect [10, 11]. This diverse use of "debility" across genres illustrates its rich semantic capacity to capture states of decline, vulnerability, and weakness in both concrete and metaphorical terms.
  1. [“Nor can Providence ever seem so averse to her own work, that debility should be found to be amongst the best things.”
    — from Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete by Michel de Montaigne
  2. Encystment of a conquering people is impossible, for it signifies complete isolation, absolute inertia, debility in the conquering element.
    — from The Philippines a Century Hence by José Rizal
  3. As I was in a state of extreme debility, I resolved to sail directly towards the town, as a place where I could most easily procure nourishment.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  4. As I was in a state of extreme debility, I resolved to sail directly towards the town, as a place where I could most easily procure nourishment.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  5. As I was in a state of extreme debility, I resolved to sail directly towards the town as a place where I could most easily procure nourishment.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  6. The infusion seems to be efficacious in fevers accompanied by debility and suppression of the function of the skin.
    — from The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by T. H. Pardo de Tavera
  7. If taken in time it may be cured or mitigated; but, unless caused by loss of blood, by lead-poisoning, or debility, it is usually incurable.
    — from The New Gresham Encyclopedia. A to Amide by Various
  8. “Anæmic debility . . .”
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  9. A sinking, a depression, a lowness, a lassitude, a debility.
    — from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
  10. She did not derive, as our author chooses to assert, any advantages from the debility of her credit.
    — from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke
  11. physical debility no longer enervated my judgment; my mind felt prompt and clear.
    — from Villette by Charlotte Brontë

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