Literary notes about ought (AI summary)
The word “ought” has long served as a modal marker of obligation and moral imperative in literature, its usage shifting subtly with context. In historical texts, it is frequently employed to assert what is proper or just, as in Carlyle’s denunciation that “blood ought not to stain an Altar of the Fatherland” [1] or Malory’s formal declaration that one “ought for to do” what duty requires [2]. At times it underscores personal regret or missed opportunities—as with a character lamenting “I ought to have known better” [3]—while in other cases it functions as a tool for social critique, pressing for fair treatment or proper conduct as seen in Wollstonecraft’s admonition that a young person “ought not to be made unhappy” [4]. Whether prescribing ideal behavior or questioning existing norms, “ought” in literature remains a powerful linguistic device that bridges personal sentiment with ethical judgment [5, 6].
- vociferates the cursing Populace; Such blood ought not to stain an Altar of the Fatherland; not there; but on that dungheap by the River-side!
— from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle - Sir, he said, I have nothing done but that me ought for to do, and ye are welcome, and here shall ye repose you and take your rest.
— from Le Morte d'Arthur: Volume 1 by Sir Thomas Malory - I ought to have known better.
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - To make a young person tractable, she ought not to be made unhappy; to make her modest she ought not to be rendered stupid.
— from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft - The pursuit of this subject belongs to ethics, where the impossibility of deducing what ought to be from what is has to be established.
— from The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell - If politics are necessarily corrupting, ought not good men, as well as good women, to be exhorted to quit voting?
— from History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I
