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Literary notes about Condescension (AI summary)

The term “condescension” in literature is often employed to reveal complex social hierarchies and the nuanced interplay between superiority and cordiality. Writers use it to convey not only a patronizing attitude but also, at times, an oddly affectionate or even humorous form of deference, as when a character’s gracious superiority highlights their social rank [1],[2] or when reserved politeness masks an underlying sense of superiority [3],[4]. Its use spans dramatic, satirical, and even affectionate portrayals, illustrating moments where characters may employ condescension to assert dominance or express gratitude, thereby enriching their interactions with subtle irony and layered social commentary [5],[6].
  1. I shall overflow with gratitude at this mark of your royal condescension.
    — from Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World by Mark Twain
  2. he added, with a gesture of kingly condescension.
    — from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy
  3. Flattery, or rather condescension, is not always a vice in young people; ‘tis oftener a virtue.
    — from The Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau — Complete by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  4. “General,” he said, “I thank you for your condescension.
    — from Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol
  5. “Slave, I before reasoned with you, but you have proved yourself unworthy of my condescension.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  6. I had been preparing for them ever since the previous day, but I had not expected such condescension, such high-official courtesy.
    — from Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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