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Literary notes about remonstrance (AI summary)

The term "remonstrance" in literature conveys a range of protest— from a formal, almost ritualized complaint to a more intimate, emotional objection. In many works, authors use it to capture the moment of a character’s appeal or reprimand, as when Dorothea employs an earnest tone in her remonstrance ([1]) or when Maggie’s tender protest underscores a personal confrontation ([2]). It is also used in more formal or public contexts, as in Homer's epic verse, where free remonstrance is portrayed as a mark of worth ([3]), or in political and social critiques found in Carlyle’s and Thomas Jefferson’s texts ([4], [5]). Whether in the heated exchanges of George Eliot’s characters ([6], [7], [8]) or the ironic rebuffs in works by Dickens and Jane Austen ([9], [10]), remonstrance functions as a versatile tool that reflects deep-seated emotion, principled dissent, or even resigned acquiescence within interpersonal and societal dynamics.
  1. " "How can you think of that?" said Dorothea, in a tone of earnest remonstrance.
    — from Middlemarch by George Eliot
  2. "Oh, Tom!" said Maggie, in a tone of sad remonstrance; but she had no spirit to dispute anything then, still less to vex Tom by opposing him.
    — from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
  3. [pg 119] Thy free remonstrance proves thy worth and truth: Yet charge my absence less, O generous chief!
    — from The Iliad by Homer
  4. The afflicted Bretons send remonstrance to Lomenie, by a Deputation of Twelve; whom, however, Lomenie, having heard them, shuts up in the Bastille.
    — from The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle
  5. The just Remonstrance of affronted That .
    — from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
  6. Again she had a scene of remonstrance with Tom, all the more severe in proportion to the greater strength of her present position.
    — from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
  7. What place was there in her mind for a remonstrance to lodge in?
    — from Middlemarch by George Eliot
  8. Maggie went up to her own room to pour out all that indignant remonstrance, against which Tom's mind was close barred, in bitter tears.
    — from The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
  9. Which growl being taken up by his fellows, swelled into a very earnest and general remonstrance.
    — from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
  10. Mr. Woodhouse's peculiarities and fidgetiness were sometimes provoking him to a rational remonstrance or sharp retort equally ill-bestowed.
    — from Emma by Jane Austen

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