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Literary notes about demented (AI summary)

The term "demented" in literature is employed with remarkable versatility, often serving as an evocative descriptor for behavior that ranges from frenzied anger and uncontrollable excitement to the stark portrayal of mental instability. It is used to characterize individuals exhibiting erratic and ungovernable actions, as when a man is depicted as "half demented" or "like one demented" to highlight his disordered state ([1], [2]). In some instances, the word conveys a sense of madness tinged with passion or loss of rationality, as seen in portrayals of figures driven beyond control by grief or peripheral disturbances ([3], [4]). Additionally, "demented" can be employed in a more lighthearted or ironic fashion to underscore eccentricity or exaggerated behavior, adding a layer of both humor and pathos to characterizations ([5], [6]). This multifaceted application demonstrates how the adjective is not only central to character development but also instrumental in evoking vivid emotional and psychological landscapes within the narrative ([7], [8]).
  1. He ran more slowly, looked eagerly at every passer-by, and seemed half demented.
    — from A Country Idyl, and Other Stories by Sarah Knowles Bolton
  2. she cried, and began to walk up and down the room like one demented.
    — from The Shoes of Fortune by Neil Munro
  3. whence he, woe piled on woe, his way 110 Went like a man with grief demented grown.
    — from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
  4. Adrian went without food or sleep for several days and rode about the country like one demented.
    — from A Vendetta of the Desert by W. C. (William Charles) Scully
  5. "Honest, Clint, you talk like a demented duck!
    — from Left Tackle Thayer by Ralph Henry Barbour
  6. Why?” Another pause, and he broke out again like one demented.
    — from The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
  7. He has recently escaped from Dr Eustace’s private asylum for demented gentlemen.
    — from Ulysses by James Joyce
  8. I went below just as another projectile scraped the Nautilus's hull, and I heard the captain exclaim: "Shoot, you demented vessel!
    — from Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World by Jules Verne

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