Despair

Despair

See also Futility.

Detection, Crime (See SLEUTHING.)

Destiny (See FATE.)

Achitophel

hanged himself from despair when his advice went unheeded. [O.T.: II Samuel 17:23]

Aram, Eugene

scholar murders from pressure of poverty. [Br. Lit.: Eugene Aram]

Bowery, the

Manhattan skid row for alcoholics. [Am. Hist.: Hart, 97]

Giant Despair

imprisons Christian and Hopeful in Doubting Castle. [Br. Lit.: Pilgrim’s Progress]

Hrothgar

Danish king desperately distressed by warrior-killing monster. [Br. Lit.: Beowulf]

Maurya

mother loses six sons in the sea. [Br. Lit.: Riders to the Sea]

Melusina

fairy who despaired when husband discovered secret. [Fr. Folklore: Brewer Handbook, 695]

Narcissus

wastes away yearning to kiss reflection of himself. [Gk. Myth.: Brewer Handbook, 745; Rom. Lit.: Metamorphoses]

Slough of Despond

bog enmiring and discouraging Christian. [Br. Lit.: Pilgrim’s Progress]

Sullivan brothers

mother despairs over losing her five sons in WWII (1942). [Am. Hist.: Facts (1943), 106]

Tristram

or Tristan falsely told that Iseult is not coming to save him from fatal poisoning, he dies of despair. [Medieval Legend: Brewer Dictionary]

Waiting for Godot

tramps consider hanging themselves because Godot has failed to arrive to set things straight. [Anglo-French Drama: Samuel Beckett Waiting for Godot in Magill III, 1113]