Both Uses of
ordeal
in
Washington Square, by Henry James
- At the same time he was half ashamed of the ordeal to which he had subjected her, and was touched by the gentleness with which she bore it.†
Chpt 14 *ordeal = very difficult or painful experience
- Did she mean to break down at the very beginning of their ordeal, after all the promises of fidelity she had both given and extracted?†
Chpt 15
Definitions:
-
(1)
(ordeal) a very difficult or painful experience
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely, ordeal can refer to a primitive method of determining a person's guilt or innocence by subjecting the accused person to dangerous or painful tests believed to be under divine control. Escape or survival was usually taken as a sign of innocence.