Despair
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Related to despairing: despairingly, depressing
Despair
See also Futility.
Detection, Crime (See SLEUTHING.)
Destiny (See FATE.)
Achitophelhanged himself from despair when his advice went unheeded. [O.T.: II Samuel 17:23]
scholar murders from pressure of poverty. [Br. Lit.: Eugene Aram]
Manhattan skid row for alcoholics. [Am. Hist.: Hart, 97]
imprisons Christian and Hopeful in Doubting Castle. [Br. Lit.: Pilgrim’s Progress]
Danish king desperately distressed by warrior-killing monster. [Br. Lit.: Beowulf]
mother loses six sons in the sea. [Br. Lit.: Riders to the Sea]
fairy who despaired when husband discovered secret. [Fr. Folklore: Brewer Handbook, 695]
wastes away yearning to kiss reflection of himself. [Gk. Myth.: Brewer Handbook, 745; Rom. Lit.: Metamorphoses]
bog enmiring and discouraging Christian. [Br. Lit.: Pilgrim’s Progress]
mother despairs over losing her five sons in WWII (1942). [Am. Hist.: Facts (1943), 106]
or Tristan falsely told that Iseult is not coming to save him from fatal poisoning, he dies of despair. [Medieval Legend: Brewer Dictionary]
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]
Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.