Literary notes about Mountebank (AI summary)
The term "mountebank" has been employed in literature as a colorful epithet for deceit and sham performance, often invoked to criticize or satirize those seen as fraudulent or misleading. In Hawthorne’s work, it conveys a deep personal concern—as if reducing the innocence or worth of a child to that of a charlatan [1]. Dostoyevsky uses the term more as an insult, lashing out at someone whose laughter is deemed inappropriate or deceitful [2]. Meanwhile, Robert Burns incorporates it within a broader social commentary, aligning the figure of the mountebank with unruly or excessive behavior in a politically charged setting [3]. Lastly, Galdós plays with the word’s punning potential, linking it to familiar notions of a street quack or trickster in a succinct and whimsical manner [4].
- "I feared the woman had no better thought than to make a mountebank of her child!"
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - And you, you mountebank, what are you laughing at?” she cried, turning suddenly on Lebedeff’s nephew.
— from The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - the Premier. Observ'd ye yon reverend lad Mak faces to tickle the mob; He rails at our mountebank squad,— It's rivalship
— from Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns - 31 7 de bancos : the list ends abruptly with a pun on saltabanco , 'mountebank,' 'street quack.'
— from Doña Perfecta by Benito Pérez Galdós
