Literary notes about heartless (AI summary)
In literature, the word heartless serves as a potent descriptor that underscores a striking absence of compassion and empathy, often casting individuals or institutions as morally deficient. It is used to highlight the cruelty of a character who, devoid of tenderness or sensitivity, wreaks havoc in personal or societal realms [1, 2]. At times, its application expands beyond human nature to critique the cold mechanisms of systems and laws that neglect the vulnerable [3]; in other instances, it punctuates moments where even mythical characters exhibit affectless indifference, underscoring a paradoxical detachment from both grief and pleasure [4]. Overall, heartless emerges as a versatile epithet that enriches narrative depth by exposing how the lack of feeling can lead to ethical and emotional desolation.
- But when the vehicle of nature's inclemency is a heartless man, even if the harm done be less, it puts on a new and a moral aspect.
— from The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress by George Santayana - He cursed Osborne and his family as heartless, wicked, and ungrateful.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray - This incident illustrates not only the heartless cruelty of the law, but also the social dangers arising out of slavery.
— from St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon by J. B. Lightfoot - "How heartless!" exclaimed the Tin Woodman, greatly shocked.
— from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum
