Both Uses of
despot
in
Hard Times
- Oh, my friends and fellow-countrymen, the slaves of an iron-handed and a grinding despotism!†
Chpt 2.4 *
- Oh, my prostrate friends, with the galling yoke of tyrants on your necks and the iron foot of despotism treading down your fallen forms into the dust of the earth, upon which right glad would your oppressors be to see you creeping on your bellies all the days of your lives, like the serpent in the garden — oh, my brothers, and shall I as a man not add, my sisters too, what do you say, now, of Stephen Blackpool, with a slight stoop in his shoulders and about five foot seven in height,…†
Chpt 3.4
Definition:
-
(despot) a ruler with absolute power -- especially one who abuses that power