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Literary notes about Profligate (AI summary)

In literature, "profligate" serves as a sharp descriptor of characters or societies marked by excessive indulgence, moral decay, or wastefulness. Writers employ the term to paint vivid portraits of individuals who squander resources, behave recklessly, or exhibit blatant disregard for ethical norms—from Mansfeld, whose shifting allegiances evoke a sense of lavish irresponsibility [1], to the dissolute heirs and unrestrained libertines lamented by authors like Dostoyevsky [2] and Tolstoy [3]. Whether condemning the debauched ministerial excess of historical tyrants [4] or capturing the self-aware wastefulness of a mannered libertine [5], the adjective encapsulates a particular flavor of moral and material excess that both defines a character and often serves as a broader critique of the society in which they live.
  1. Mansfeld, reckless and profligate, had already changed his banner more than once.
    — from Life and Death of John of Barneveld — Complete (1609-1623) by John Lothrop Motley
  2. All this was a complete surprise to the old profligate, who had dropped all family ties.
    — from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  3. “Yes, I never thought of it, but I have led a contemptible and profligate life, though I did not like it and did not want to,” thought Pierre.
    — from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy
  4. Tigellinus was the profligate minister of Nero, and Africanus Burrhus was the chief of the Prætorian Guards.—
    — from Bacon's Essays, and Wisdom of the Ancients by Francis Bacon
  5. I heard that this shameless profligate, this paltry poetaster, had been named poet to the emperor.
    — from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova

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