Both Uses of
enthrall
in
The Count of Monte Cristo
- What these happy persons took for reality was but a dream; but it was a dream so soft, so voluptuous, so enthralling, that they sold themselves body and soul to him who gave it to them, and obedient to his orders as to those of a deity, struck down the designated victim, died in torture without a murmur, believing that the death they underwent was but a quick transition to that life of delights of which the holy herb, now before you, had given them a slight foretaste.†
Chpt 31-32enthralling = holding spellbound (capturing full attention)
- Moreover, other ideas, much more enthralling, occupied his mind.†
Chpt 31-32 *
Definitions:
-
(1)
(enthrall as in: enthralled by the story) to capture and hold someone's full attention -- often by being fascinating, exciting, or beautiful
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely, in the past enthrall could reference enslavement.