Literary notes about fatal (AI summary)
The term "fatal" permeates literary language, being employed to evoke an inevitable, often tragic consequence or turning point that characterizes both events and human dispositions. It appears in historical narratives to denote outcomes so severe they reshape destiny, as seen when a single misstep leads to an irreversible downfall ([1], [2]). In poetic and dramatic contexts, "fatal" imbues scenes with heightened tension and premonition, underscoring the inescapability of fate or a character’s doomed disposition ([3], [4], [5]). Authors also use it to mark decisive moments in personal struggles and moral dilemmas, where a choice or remark foretells irreversible decline ([6], [7]). Whether delineating the inexorable power of nature, as when a disease or accident proves deadly ([8], [9]), or symbolizing the weight of critical errors in judgment that impede progress ([10], [11]), the word enriches the narrative by deepening the emotional stakes and moral gravity of the discourse.
- in Chron.] The pestilence which swept away such numbers of the barbarians, at length proved fatal to their conqueror.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - The second battle was fought near Fano in Umbria; on the spot which, five hundred years before, had been fatal to the brother of Hannibal.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - How terribly they strove, and struck from morn to eve unspent, Amid the fatal fiery ring, enamoured of the fight!
— from Poems by Victor Hugo - O fatal sustren, which, er any clooth Me shapen was, my destene me sponne, So helpeth to this werk that is bi-gonne!'
— from Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer - It is accordingly most truly love when it is irresistible and fatal.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - 89) That night I had come to the fatal cross-roads.
— from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - But I could see no issue that was not fatal for you; and that dread shut out the very thought of resignation.
— from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot - Although she regained her usual weight, she bore one sad scar of her nearly fatal illness: her legs were paralyzed.
— from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda - The dose proved fatal, and she was sentenced to two years’ rigorous imprisonment.
— from Omens and Superstitions of Southern India by Edgar Thurston - In America it exercises a peculiarly fatal influence on the sources of national existence.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville - They know that hesitation is fatal to enterprise, fatal to progress, fatal to success.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden
