Literary notes about cruel (AI summary)
In literature, the term "cruel" serves as a powerful descriptor that conveys both physical brutality and emotional harshness. Writers employ it to underscore the severity of actions—whether it is the merciless behavior of a tyrannical government, as seen when political acts are condemned for their inhumanity ([1]), or the viciousness of personal interactions, such as the emotionally charged condemnations by characters facing despair and betrayal ([2], [3]). At times, the word heightens the dramatic tone by evoking a visceral response, as in depictions of mythic confrontations where fate itself appears merciless ([4]). It is equally used in more nuanced ways, delineating the ironic cruelty found in societal institutions or nature’s indifferent forces ([5], [6]), illustrating the word’s versatility in reflecting both external conflicts and internal struggles.
- Then the Spanish government of Polavieja disgraced itself by an act as wanton and cruel as it was inhuman and impolitic.
— from A History of the Philippines by David P. Barrows - And she has not once understood me; oh, it’s cruel!
— from The possessed : by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - ‘Oh!’ cried Kate, looking upwards and clasping her hands; ‘is not this, is not this, too cruel, too hard to bear!
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens - I must be cruel, only to be kind: Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind.
— from Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare - Secure, in every event, of personal liberty, the resistance of the vanquished became less obstinate, and the triumph of the victor less cruel.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - There are the great glaciers, the broad streams of ice that fill up the furrows of the mountains, with the crevasses so blue and beautiful and cruel.
— from Little Lucy's Wonderful Globe by Charlotte M. Yonge
