Both Uses of
despot
in
Middlemarch
- After he was gone, Dorothea dwelt with some agitation on this indifference of his; and her mind was much exercised with arguments drawn from the varying conditions of climate which modify human needs, and from the admitted wickedness of pagan despots.†
Chpt 1 *despots = rulers with absolute power -- especially those who abuses that power
- But he controlled himself, and only said, with a touch of despotic firmness— "What I am to do in my practice, Rosy, it is for me to judge.†
Chpt 7despotic = typical of a ruler who abuses absolute power
Definition:
a ruler with absolute power -- especially one who abuses that power