Literary notes about provocation (AI summary)
Writers often use "provocation" to signal that small or seemingly trivial stimuli can ignite significant or disproportionate responses. The term functions both as a catalyst for emotional outbursts and as a device to explore the limits of self-control. In certain narratives, characters are shown reacting violently or impulsively at the slightest provocation, emphasizing the fragility of their temperaments, as when a minor remark quickly escalates into a full-blown conflict [1][2][3]. In other contexts, provocation carries a weightier moral or philosophical charge, serving as a pretext for justifying actions or probing the boundaries between reason and passion [4][5][6]. Overall, this versatility allows authors to delve into the interplay between external triggers and internal vulnerabilities, highlighting how even insignificant insults may unleash profound consequences [7][8].
- The slightest provocation, even being asked if there is anything he would prefer for dinner, causes him to express a wish for a separation.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - He not only struck me first, but struck me without the least provocation.
— from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding - I go into the drawing-room, and, all of a sudden, without the least provocation: ‘Spy!’
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - While it is said: To day, if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in that provocation.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - It must be confessed that there is provocation for it.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - France still seemed to submit, but she was biding her time, and preparing warily a severe stroke for which she had now ample provocation.
— from The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 by A. T. Mahan - I told him he had insulted me, and had given the provocation, by first striking me.
— from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African by Equiano - This doctrine is, that provocation may reduce an offence which would otherwise have been murder to manslaughter.
— from The Common Law by Oliver Wendell Holmes