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Literary notes about pitiable (AI summary)

In literature, "pitiable" is often employed to convey a state of vulnerability or degradation that inspires deep empathy or critical reflection. For instance, in one narrative a character's condition is depicted as heartbreaking—a state that moves readers to sympathy [1]—while in philosophical discourse the term critiques self-assured complacency, hinting at a profound internal weakness [2]. It can also underline societal neglect or individual misfortune, as seen when a once-proud character is reduced to despair [3] or when the physical and emotional decline of a figure evokes pity [4, 5]. Overall, "pitiable" serves as a versatile descriptor that bridges the personal and the universal in the exploration of human frailty.
  1. Mrs. Bennet was really in a most pitiable state.
    — from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  2. Ah, the pitiable self-complacency in the twain!
    — from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
  3. Behold little Belgium and her pitiable plight, but has the world forgotten Congo?
    — from Darkwater: Voices from Within the Veil by W. E. B. Du Bois
  4. The unfortunate tutor was certainly in a state of pitiable agitation when we found him in his chambers.
    — from The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
  5. And at the thought of how it would come, she seemed so pitiable to herself that tears came into her eyes, and she could not go on.
    — from Anna Karenina by graf Leo Tolstoy

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