Literary notes about Miser (AI summary)
The word “miser” has been a versatile literary device, used to critique greed and to underscore moral or philosophical themes. In traditional fables and fairy tales—such as those by Grimms ([1], [2], [3]) and La Fontaine ([4], [5], [6], [7])—the miser appears as a comical yet cautionary figure, whose obsession with hoarding wealth critiques excessive frugality and its societal consequences. Meanwhile, in more philosophically laden texts by Plato ([8], [9], [10]) and Schopenhauer ([11]), the miser symbolizes deeper human folly and the corrupting influence of materialism. Authors like Dickens ([12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17]) and George Eliot ([18], [19], [20]) extend this character to explore themes of isolation and the tragic costs of avarice, merging humor with pathos. Across these diverse examples, the miser endures as a powerful metaphor for the pitfalls of unchecked greed and the complexities of human nature.
- The miser began to tell his tale, and said he had been robbed of his money.
— from Grimms' Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm - ‘Oh, what a pretty bird!’ said the miser; ‘I would give a great deal of money to have such a one.’
— from Grimms' Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm - The farmer was a sad miser, and knew that his man was very simple-hearted; so he took out threepence, and gave him for every year’s service a penny.
— from Grimms' Fairy Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm - One morning, ere the dawn, Forth had our miser gone To worship what he loved the best, When, lo!
— from Fables of La Fontaine — a New Edition, with Notes by Jean de La Fontaine - XX .--THE MISER WHO HAD LOST HIS TREASURE.
— from Fables of La Fontaine — a New Edition, with Notes by Jean de La Fontaine - But spare-- 'I'll make them last--such luck is rare,' (The miser's everlasting plea.)
— from Fables of La Fontaine — a New Edition, with Notes by Jean de La Fontaine - 9. Miser and Monkey.
— from Fables of La Fontaine — a New Edition, with Notes by Jean de La Fontaine - Can we any longer doubt, then, that the miser and money-maker B answers to the oligarchical State?
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato - 362 Miser, the, typical of the oligarchical state, 8. 555 A (cp. 559 D ).
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato - D , 554 E —the oligarchical man, 8. 553 ; a miser, ib.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato - Agamemnon slays his daughter; a miser dispenses alms, out of pure egotism, in the hope that he will some day receive an hundred-fold; and so on.
— from The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer - A Miser's Idea of Death.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - Bob, the Miser's cur.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - It took many weeks to explore its whole contents; and Captain Holmes found it a very agreeable task to dive into the miser's secret hoards.”
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - Did you ever hear of Daniel Dancer?' 'Another miser?
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - Now, look well about you, my dear, and tell me if you see any book about a Miser.'
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - 'The miser?' 'Ah, people called him a miser.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - The miser is a social type; but there are no case studies as sympathetic and discerning as George Eliot's Silas Marner .
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - Anybody might know—and only look at him—that the weaver was a half-crazy miser.
— from Silas Marner by George Eliot - "It's a pretty little child: the old fellow seems to want to keep it; that's strange for a miser like him.
— from Silas Marner by George Eliot
