Literary notes about tormented (AI summary)
In literature, "tormented" conveys both physical suffering and psychological anguish, frequently serving as a powerful marker of inner conflict or distress. It is often used to describe characters or entities ensnared in relentless pain—such as limbs that are metaphorically restrained [1] or minds gripped by anxious thoughts that rob them of peace [2]. The term spans a range of contexts, from the plainly physical, such as bodily afflictions and hunger [3, 4], to the deeply mental, as seen in the portrayal of troubled psychological states in characters like Macbeth or those burdened with remorse [5, 6]. Additionally, "tormented" may reflect a broader human condition, suggesting a universal, almost existential struggle against forces including fate, illness, or moral conflict [7, 8]. This multifaceted use allows writers to evoke vivid sensory and emotional images, contributing to a richer, more resonant narrative experience [9, 10].
- So fetters his tormented limbs, That he from bed can never budge.
— from The Fables of La Fontaine by Jean de La Fontaine - This idea pursued me and tormented me at every moment from which I might otherwise have snatched repose and peace.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - On the way hunger and thirst tormented the unhappy boy so violently that he ate two of the bunches of grapes.
— from Household Tales by Brothers Grimm by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm - This was the forest near Ingolstadt; and here I lay by the side of a brook resting from my fatigue, until I felt tormented by hunger and thirst.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - To Macbeth's tormented mind Banquo's conduct appears highly suspicious.
— from Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth by A. C. Bradley - Oh! how dreadful was this solitude, to a heart tormented by remorse!
— from The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne - is mankind generally tormented with epidemical maladies?
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - For what profit shall a man have of all his labour, and vexation of spirit, with which he hath been tormented under the sun?
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - That room, in which her disturbed imagination had tormented her on her first arrival, was again the scene of agitated spirits and unquiet slumbers.
— from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen - I was tormented by a furious impatience, an intolerable dissatisfaction with myself and all around me.
— from My Reminiscences by Rabindranath Tagore
