Literary notes about servile (AI summary)
Throughout literary works, “servile” is used to evoke a sense of deference, subordination, and the downtrodden state of individuals or groups. In some writings, it describes a submissive attitude or condition imposed by societal structures, as when characters are portrayed with an abject capacity to yield to authority or circumstance ([1],[2]). The term often carries critical overtones, hinting not only at humble obedience but at a degrading, almost enslaved state that diminishes personal agency ([3],[4]). It appears in both historical narratives and poetic expressions, whether highlighting the literal servitude of a disadvantaged class ([5]) or the more figurative subservience in a demeaning social order ([6],[7]). This multifaceted use underscores the persistent literary interest in power dynamics and the intrinsic human struggle for freedom and self-respect.
- The servile, or grateful, freedman understood the hint, and yielded without hesitation to the love of his benefactor.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - Can there be a more low and servile Condition, than to be ashamed, or afraid, to see any one Man breathing?
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - He was just proud enough to demand the most debasing homage of the slave, and quite servile enough to crouch, himself, at the feet of the master.
— from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass - The rudest, or the most servile, condition of human society, is regulated, however, by some fixed and general rules.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - In the most cultured sections and cities of the South the Negroes are a segregated servile caste, with restricted rights and privileges.
— from The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois - And the seventh day shall be more solemn, and more holy: and you shall do no servile work therein.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - Some, it is said, would violently domineer over others, who would groan under a servile submission to their caprices.
— from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
