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Literary notes about Conspirator (AI summary)

The term “conspirator” has been wielded by many authors to evoke a spectrum of meanings—from the straightforwardly political to the intriguingly ambiguous. In some texts, as in Dostoyevsky’s portrayals ([1], [2]) and Victor Hugo’s narratives ([3], [4]), the word primarily identifies individuals actively engaged in dangerous political or criminal plots. Yet other authors use the term with a blend of irony and allure: Katherine Mansfield’s curious inquiry into one’s role as a "conspirator" ([5]) and Eliot’s depiction of a Byronic, “amorous conspirator” ([6]) suggest that involvement in clandestine activity can be as much about personal magnetism as it is about overt rebellion. This nuance is further explored in Dumas’ multifaceted uses—where a conspirator may be both a literal plotter ([7], [8]) and a symbol of complex loyalty and defiant mischief ([9]). Ultimately, these literary examples illustrate that the idea of conspiracy often transcends mere political subterfuge to encompass a broader, more human interplay of secrecy, destiny, and sometimes even romance.
  1. “He’s a political conspirator!
    — from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  2. “He’s a political conspirator, there’s not a doubt about it,” Razumihin decided, as he slowly descended the stairs.
    — from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  3. In 1851 it lent its aid to the conspirator against the law: such is the beauty of passive obedience.
    — from The History of a Crime by Victor Hugo
  4. In 1840 this regiment lent its aid to the law against the conspirator.
    — from The History of a Crime by Victor Hugo
  5. And what is this queer sensation that you're a conspirator?
    — from The Garden Party, and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield
  6. A sort of Byronic hero—an amorous conspirator, it strikes me.
    — from Middlemarch by George Eliot
  7. Now, then, were a conspirator to fall into your hands, he would be most welcome.”
    — from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet
  8. [ The Genoese conspirator.]
    — from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet
  9. “A most dangerous conspirator, a man we are ordered to keep the most strict watch over, as he is daring and resolute.”
    — from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet

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