Both Uses of
writhe
in
Notes from the Underground
- They say that Cleopatra (excuse an instance from Roman history) was fond of sticking gold pins into her slave-girls' breasts and derived gratification from their screams and writhings.†
Chpt 1.7
- PART II A Propos of the Wet Snow When from dark error's subjugation My words of passionate exhortation Had wrenched thy fainting spirit free; And writhing prone in thine affliction Thou didst recall with malediction The vice that had encompassed thee: And when thy slumbering conscience, fretting By recollection's torturing flame, Thou didst reveal the hideous setting Of thy life's current ere I came: When suddenly I saw thee sicken, And weeping, hide thine anguished face, Revolted, maddened, horror-stricken, At memories of foul disgrace.†
Chpt 2.1 *writhing = moving in a twisting or contorted motion
Definition:
to move in a twisting or contorted motion -- often of a person when struggling or in pain