Literary notes about Absolution (AI summary)
In literature, absolution is most often used to signify the act of forgiving sins and restoring a moral or spiritual balance, frequently within the context of confession and religious ritual ([1], [2], [3]). Authors depict it as both a sacrosanct rite—where a priest’s words carry divine authority—and as a nuanced human experience, sometimes conditional on genuine repentance or even denied, intensifying the inner conflict of characters ([4], [5], [6]). Beyond its theological roots, absolution serves as a metaphor for redemption and deliverance from guilt, bridging the gap between personal transgression and societal or cosmic forgiveness ([7], [8], [9]).
- These administered the rites of baptism, confession, and absolution, each of which strongly resembled that of the Christian religion.
— from By Right of Conquest; Or, With Cortez in Mexico by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty - The Absolution, or Remission of sins, to be pronounced by the Priest alone, standing; the people still kneeling.
— from Ritual Conformity Interpretations of the Rubrics of the Prayer-Book Agreed Upon by a Conference Held at All Saints, Margaret-street, 1880-1881 - “Absolution comes not from him who administers it, but from God.
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - ‘In that case,’ replied he, ‘I will not give you absolution.’
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - “No doubt of it, and confession supposes repentance; without it, absolution has no effect.”
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - He wanted me to promise never to be alone with you again, and on my refusing to do so he would not give me absolution.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - I confessed, that I might obtain absolution; but now that falsehood lies heavier at my heart than all my other sins.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - But on Dante’s scheme of what fixes the fate of the soul absolution matters little to save, or priestly curses to damnify.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri - And drawing a poniard from beneath his robe he thrust it into the breast of the wounded man, saying, “Here is my absolution!”
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet
