Literary notes about Ignominy (AI summary)
Literary usage of “ignominy” frequently conveys deep shame, social disgrace, or a fall from moral grace. It is employed to emphasize not only the internal turmoil of a character facing personal ruin, as seen when a hero laments his added ignominy in the face of destruction ([1]), but also to express public dishonor and historical downfall ([2], [3]). In narrative arcs, ignominy may serve as a turning point where internal guilt and external condemnation converge, such as in the poignant reflections of characters in works by Shelley and Hawthorne ([4], [5], [6]), or even in broader musings on honor and punishment in classical texts ([7], [8]). This rich layering of meaning accentuates both the personal burden of disgrace and its wider societal repercussions.
- Listen to me, rather than add to my destruction, rather than add to my ignominy!”
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - The temples of the Parthians, and the statues of their deified monarchs, were thrown down with ignominy.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - His cowardice served only to protract his life a few days, and to stamp deserved ignominy on his misfortunes.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - I soon shall see you again in heaven, where we shall all be happy; and that consoles me, going as I am to suffer ignominy and death.” “Oh, Justine!
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - Her sin, her ignominy, were the roots which she had struck into the soil.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - The very ideal of ignominy was embodied and made manifest in this contrivance of wood and iron.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - In states in which good men desire glory and approbation, and shun disgrace and ignominy.
— from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations by Marcus Tullius Cicero - Now, what ignominy can a wise man be affected with (for it is of such a one that I am speaking) who can be guilty of nothing which deserves it?
— from Cicero's Tusculan Disputations by Marcus Tullius Cicero
