I gave him my heart, and he took and pinched it to death; and flung it back to me. People feel with their hearts, Ellen, and since he has destroyed mine, I have not power to feel for him.
Emily BronteRead
I cannot love thee; thou 'rt worse than thy brother. Go, say thy prayers, child, and ask God's pardon. I doubt thy mother and I must rue that we ever reared thee!
Interpretation
What this quote means
The speaker expresses deep disappointment and rejection of someone they once cared for, suggesting moral failure and regret.
In this quote from Emily Brontë, the speaker confronts an individual with a sense of betrayal and sorrow. They express that their inability to love the person stems from the belief that they are worse than a sibling—implying a significant disappointment. The invocation of prayer and God's pardon indicates a crisis of morality, alongside a profound sense of regret about having nurtured this person's development, marking a painful reflection on relationships and familial ties.
Themes
LoveDisappointmentRegretRelationshipsMorality
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the consequences of betrayal among family members.
More from Emily Bronte
All quotes →I ran to the children's room: their door was ajar, I saw they had never laid down, though it was past midnight; but they were calmer, and did not need me to console them. The little souls were comforting each other with better thoughts than I could have hit on: no parson in the world ever pictured heaven so beautifully as they did, in their innocent talk; and, while I sobbed, and listened. I could not help wishing we were all there safe together.
Emily BronteRead
Vain are the thousand creeds That move men's hearts, unutterably vain; Worthless as withered weeds, Or idlest froth amid the boundless main.
Emily BronteRead
Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.
Emily BronteRead
He had been content with daily labour and rough animal enjoyments, 'till Catherine crossed his path. Shame at her scorn, and hope of her approval, were his first prompts to higher pursuits; and, instead of guarding him from one and winning him to the other, his endeavors to raise himself had produced just the contrary result.
Emily BronteRead
And, even yet, I dare not let it languish, Dare not indulge in memory's rapturous pain; Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish, How could I seek the empty world again?
Emily BronteRead
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