The word “curtsy” has been employed across literature as a multifaceted signifier of politeness, deference, and character nuance. In many works, it marks a formal gesture imbued with social grace—as seen in Adam Mickiewicz’s Pan Tadeusz, where characters greet one another with a carefully taught curtsy ([1], [2])—while in other texts it becomes a vivid portrayal of a character’s internal state. For instance, Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s characters sometimes perform curtsies in moments of haste or fear ([3], [4]), underscoring vulnerability, whereas in Nicholas Nickleby, curtsies are used both humorously and sarcastically to reveal the interplay of wit and duty ([5], [6]). Moreover, Emily Post’s etiquette manuals highlight the curtsy as a prescribed act of respect ([7], [8], [9]), and authors like George Eliot and Frances Hodgson Burnett depict it as a marker of both rural simplicity and refined graciousness ([10], [11], [12], [13]). Thus, across a spectrum of narratives—from the ceremonious and formal to the subtly ironic—the act of making a curtsy serves as a literary device that encapsulates the social norms and emotional intricacies of its characters.