The Copious Style

Original

It (the guillotine) seems as though it were a being, possessed of I know not what somber initiative; one would say that this piece of carpenter’s work saw, that this machine heard, that this mechanism understood, that this wood, this iron, and these cords were possessed of will. In the frightful meditation into which its presence casts the soul, the scaffold appears in terrible guise, and as though taking part in what is going on. The scaffold is the accomplice of the executioner; it devours, it eats flesh, it drinks blood; the scaffold is a sort of monster fabricated by the judge and the carpenter, a spectre which seems to live with a horrible vitality composed of all the death which it has inflicted.

--Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

Summary

Guillotine scary

Blind Re-Write

The guillotine seems alive, as much as you or me. It pulses with the intent to kill, to sever heads; as if it was a living being. When one is near it they can feel a chill in the air, the sensation of a beast thirsting for blood, for heads to roll. One can sense that the executioner, the judge, and the carpenter have all contributed to the bloodlust that is barely contained in this object of malice. These planks, these screws, these cords have all been imbued with hatred, evil, and most of all, a thirst for blood.

My Paragraph

When one is near a cat, one can sense a certain malice; a certain bloodlust. Through the hell-born vibrations of the fur, one innately feels that they should not attempt to engage in battle with this creature, no matter how harmless it may seem. Pet it and move your hand ever so slightly the wrong direction, and you will die by the hands of this bloodthirsty monster called a cat. Only God knows why He brought these accursed creatures to life. Was it to punish us? To make us repent our sins? It is beyond mortal capacity to know or understand, but to get within five feet of such beasts is surely doom.