Literary notes about Turpitude (AI summary)
The term "turpitude" has long been employed in literature to denote morally corrupt or depraved behavior, often with a highly charged, almost taboo connotation. In early modern prose, Burke describes breaches in civil relations as acts of “the most distinguished turpitude” [1], while a more experimental usage appears in Joyce’s playful yet cryptic turn of phrase [2]. Classic novels like Stevenson’s explore personal horror linked to someone's unveiled moral turpitude [3], and legal texts by Gross illustrate its application in framing both insults and criminal actions [4, 5]. Philosophers like Hume further elevate the term when discussing sins like incest [6], and historical reflections—from Tacitus’s principle of concealing turpitude during punishment [7] to the Stoic denials of inherent immorality in Marcus Aurelius’s meditations [8]—emphasize its role in moral judgment. Edgar Allan Poe’s work, cited twice [9, 10], notably marks social decay by attributing sudden epochs of heightened turpitude, underscoring the term’s versatility across genres and eras.
- Breaches of any of these kinds of civil relation were considered as acts of the most distinguished turpitude.
— from The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Edmund Burke - Or do you are fond better what belongs they moderns pleasure turpitude of old mans?
— from Ulysses by James Joyce - As for the moral turpitude that man unveiled to me, even with tears of penitence, I cannot, even in memory, dwell on it without a start of horror.
— from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson - He simply has observed that A has insulted B with an epithet of moral turpitude or of stupidity and under examination he inserts an appropriate term.
— from Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students by Hans Gross - It is as if she has in turpitude a certain pleasure to which she abandons herself as soon as she has passed the limit in her first crime.
— from Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students by Hans Gross - Incest, therefore, being PERNICIOUS in a superior degree, has also a superior turpitude and moral deformity annexed to it.
— from An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals by David Hume - 79 This difference of punishment has in view the principle, that villainy should be exposed while it is punished, but turpitude concealed.
— from The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus by Cornelius Tacitus - There is no turpitude in it, since it is beyond our power, and contains nothing contrary to the common advantage.
— from The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus by Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius - This epoch—these later years—took unto themselves a sudden elevation in turpitude, whose origin alone it is my present purpose to assign.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 by Edgar Allan Poe - This epoch—these later years—took unto themselves a sudden elevation in turpitude, whose origin alone it is my present purpose to assign.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe
