Literary notes about Regality (AI summary)
In literature, the word "regality" is employed to evoke a complex mix of majesty, power, and the burdens or responsibilities that accompany high status. For instance, in John Milton's Paradise Lost, regality is depicted as something that ensnares the brave and trusting into roles of martyrdom, suggesting that grandeur and authority can become oppressive forces ([1]). In contrast, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's The Last Man portrays regality as a trait that is deliberately set aside for the sake of practicality and republican virtue, with a character renouncing her regal bearing for the welfare of her children ([2]). Together, these examples illustrate the multifaceted nature of regality in literature, where it can represent both the allure of high power and the sacrifices inherent in its relinquishment.
- Pity it is that men, the trusting and the brave, are made the puppets, the martyrs, of such regality!
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton - For her children's sake alone she consented to remain, shorn of regality, a member of the English republic.
— from The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
