Literary notes about apoplectic (AI summary)
Writers employ the term "apoplectic" to vividly convey moments of explosive emotional upheaval as well as the physical manifestations of such intense states. In many works, a character’s face turning a deep, red hue or breaking into a fit marks the instant when anger becomes almost tangible—as when a gentleman is depicted bursting into a paroxysm of wrath [1, 2]. At times it even evokes the clinical severity of a stroke, merging the metaphorical with the literal, as seen when a sudden apoplectic attack foretells imminent demise [3, 4]. This layered use both dramatizes human passion and underscores the precarious balance between emotion and physical collapse, adding a rich intensity to the narrative [5, 6].
- Had the poor man been an apoplectic, he could never have recovered from his paroxysm of wrath.
— from Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne - The memory of it brought an apoplectic red to his face.
— from Anderson Crow, Detective by George Barr McCutcheon - He could not live under the horrors that were accumulated around him; an apoplectic fit was brought on, and in a few days he died in my arms.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - Towards evening Andrey Yefimitch died of an apoplectic stroke.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - By this time, the apoplectic butler was nearly in fits, in consequence of the unheard-of postponement of dinner.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens - “Oh, yes, sir, he told me; it appears to have been an apoplectic stroke.”
— from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet
