human bondage
State of servitude
Human bondage refers to the condition of being enslaved or held in servitude, whether literally or figuratively.
The phrase encompasses both physical slavery and psychological or emotional subjugation to another person, addiction, or compulsion.
It gained literary prominence from Somerset Maugham's 1915 novel *Of Human Bondage*, which explored the theme of obsessive romantic attachment as a form of enslavement.
He struggled to free himself from the human bondage of his gambling addiction.
- racismPrejudice based on ethnicity
- addictionCompulsive substance reliance
- slaveryOwnership of people
- slave tradeCommerce in human beings
- forced laborCompelled toil, no consent
trafficking · servitude · indentured servitude · sexism · indenture · obsession · classism · dependency · thralldom · coercion · fatalism · caste system · peonage · existentialism · exploitation · modern slavery · disenfranchisement · serfdom
human bondagefreedom
Absence of constraint
liberty · autonomy · emancipation · self-determination · independence
human bondagecitizenship
Status as state member
civil rights · abolition · freedom · legal personhood · self-ownership
human bondagespiritual liberation
Release from worldly suffering
enlightenment · salvation · moksha · nirvana · transcendence
human, bondage, humans, humane, humanly, humanity, inhuman, inhumane, superhuman