Remorse (redirected from compunction)

Remorse

See also Regret.

Ayenbite of Inwit (Remorse of Conscience)

Middle English version of medieval moral treatise, c. 1340. [Br. Lit.: Barnhart, 74]

Deianira

commits suicide out of remorse for unwittingly having killed husband, Hercules. [Gk. Myth.: Benét, 709]

Hermione

commits suicide upon the funeral pyre of her beloved Pyrrhus for having instigated his murder. [Fr. Drama: Racine Andromaque]

Jocasta

commits suicide when she realizes she has married son, Oedipus. [Gk. Lit.: Oedipus Rex]

Lord Jim

tormented by his memory of having saved himself from a sinking ship with 800 Muslims aboard. [Br. Lit.: Joseph Conrad Lord Jim in Magill I, 522]

Manfred

magician, living alone in an Alpine castle, broods on his alienation from mankind and on his destruction of the woman he loved. [Br. Poetry: Byron “Manfred”]

Mannon, Orin

crazed by guilt for inciting mother’s suicide. [Am. Lit.: Mourning Becomes Electra]

Oedipus

blinds self upon learning of his crimes. [Gk. Lit.: Oedipus Rex]

Othello

commits suicide from guilt for wife’s murder. [Br. Lit.: Othello]