Literary notes about rigid (AI summary)
In literature, "rigid" is often used to evoke both physical immobility and a steadfast, unyielding character. Authors describe figures as eerily unmoving—at times comparing them to statues locked in place [1] or imbuing them with an attitude that is unbending and set [2]. The term can also extend to abstract realms, such as the strict interpretations of laws and traditions that leave little room for deviation [3], or the firm, unchangeable nature of societal roles and moral vows [4]. Thus, "rigid" becomes a versatile descriptor, painting vivid images of both the external posture and the internal resolve of characters and institutions.
- Along the walls stood men-at-arms, in breastplate and morion, with halberds for their only weapon—rigid as statues; and that is what they looked like.
— from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain - You will have before you a man bent on cultivating a certain rigid attitude—whose body, if one may use the expression, is one vast grin.
— from Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic by Henri Bergson - But in the rigid interpretation of the laws, every one may accept, without injury, whatever his benefactor can bestow without injustice.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - Rishis of rigid vows have said that he that giveth away rice or maketh any gift at the tirtha called Kanya, rendereth such gift eternal.
— from The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1
