Literary notes about Trickery (AI summary)
Literature employs the term "trickery" to capture acts of deceit, cunning manipulation, and subterfuge that reveal deeper character flaws or societal critiques. In some works, it signifies the calculated deceit of individuals—reflecting ambitions or the moral decay of characters who hide behind clever ruses [1, 2]—while in others it evokes a sense of playful or even magical misdirection, as seen in adventurous or folkloric narratives [3, 4, 5]. Authors also use trickery to heighten dramatic tension, blurring the lines between genuine skill and ethically ambiguous artifice, thereby inviting readers to ponder the true nature of wisdom versus deception [6, 7, 8].
- Mine they are, and I hold that he is keeping me out of them by nothing less than trickery and fraud.
— from Edgar the Ready: A Tale of the Third Edward's Reign by W. P. Shervill - He was little initiated in the trickery of political controversy.
— from The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II by Various - "I took by trickery a magic pitcher from the same foolish young man."
— from The Laughing Prince: Jugoslav Folk and Fairy Tales by Parker Fillmore - The turtle was a sort of humorist, and was constantly giving exhibitions of his dexterity in getting food by trickery.
— from Filipino Popular Tales - "Here is some foolish trickery!" said the Sorceress, her eyes flashing with anger.
— from The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum - The life he led, with its ceaseless effort, endless mental work, perpetual anxiety, had made of him a fanatical worshiper at the shrine of trickery.
— from The Lock and Key Library: The Most Interesting Stories of All Nations: North Europe — Russian — Swedish — Danish — Hungarian - We adopted this harmless bit of trickery, and the result was that, by the time everything else was ready, the tea was waiting.
— from Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome - But such is the wretched trickery of hole-and-corner Buffery!
— from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
