Literary notes about Feigned (AI summary)
In literature, "feigned" is often used to describe a deliberate act of pretense, where characters mask their true intentions or emotions through a contrived appearance. Authors employ it to illustrate actions like pretending not to hear in order to avoid conflict [1] or simulating sleep to evade unwanted attention [2, 3]. It is equally effective in conveying false displays of sentiment, such as feigned astonishment or sorrow that serve both to deceive and to entertain [4, 5, 6]. Whether disguising one’s identity or emotions through a calculated performance [7, 8, 9] or even feigning physical states like death or ailment for strategic purposes [10, 11], this word enriches narratives by underscoring the tension between appearance and reality [12, 13, 14].
- He feigned not to hear, and to be occupied with something on the opposite side.
— from Adam Bede by George Eliot - I awoke earlier than on the previous morning, and shortly afterwards, hearing a movement in the doctor’s dressing room, I feigned sleep.
— from The Romance of Lust: A classic Victorian erotic novel by Anonymous - Moving without perceptible sound, she visited the three children in the three beds; she approached me: I feigned sleep, and she studied me long.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - My dear pet!” “ Ma chère , there is a time for everything,” said the countess with feigned severity.
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy - Affecting not to see him, Mr. Squeers feigned to be intent upon mending a pen, and offering benevolent advice to his youthful pupil.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens - “How very singular,” cried Monte Cristo with well-feigned astonishment.
— from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - Mr. Audley remembered, for the first time, that he had been recommended to introduce his wretched charge under a feigned name.
— from Lady Audley's Secret by M. E. Braddon - And when he entered the palace, he disguised his true countenance, and feigned to be a man broken with age.
— from The Danish History, Books I-IX by Grammaticus Saxo - "I had seen an advertisement in the Times while I was at Wildernsea, and I presented myself to Mrs. Vincent, the advertiser, under a feigned name.
— from Lady Audley's Secret by M. E. Braddon - He closed his single eye, allowed his head to droop upon his breast, and feigned death.
— from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo - I was almost beside myself, and to conceal my condition I feigned sleep.
— from The Romance of Lust: A classic Victorian erotic novel by Anonymous - Once, in boyish mockery of Narcissus, he had kissed, or feigned to kiss, those painted lips that now smiled so cruelly at him.
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - I, therefore, did not do more than make a feigned resistance to her when she told me I must go to my own bed.
— from The Romance of Lust: A classic Victorian erotic novel by Anonymous - His feigned timidity flattered the vanity of the Nuns, who endeavoured to reassure him.
— from The Monk: A Romance by M. G. Lewis
