Literary notes about complicity (AI summary)
The term "complicity" has been employed in literature to evoke a range of connotations—from the subtle and playful to the overtly criminal. In some works, it suggests an unspoken, almost conspiratorial rapport between individuals, as when a genial glance hints at shared secrets or understandings ([1], [2]). In other contexts, it takes on a more juridical or historical dimension, describing involvement in conspiracies or crimes, whether in the realm of political intrigue and betrayal ([3], [4], [5], [6]) or in legal examinations of guilt and responsibility ([7], [8], [9]). Additionally, complicity can imply a state of being drawn into or burdened by events, sometimes involuntarily, as seen in scenarios of unwanted association ([10], [11], [12]). Across these varied examples, authors harness the word to underline the complex, often ambiguous interplay between individual agency and collective complicity, serving both as a narrative device and as an analytical tool in dissecting moral, social, and legal dilemmas ([13], [14], [15], [16], [17]).
- she always received him with a genial twinkle of complicity and a play of allusion to which May seemed fortunately impervious.
— from The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton - However spontaneous it seems, laughter always implies a kind of secret freemasonry, or even complicity, with other laughers, real or imaginary.
— from Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic by Henri Bergson - Eighty persons arrested for complicity in the murder of Herr Rathenau were also said to be members of the same society.
— from Secret societies and subversive movements by Nesta Helen Webster - In the year 65, on the pretext of complicity in the conspiracy of Piso, he was commanded to commit suicide, and Tacitus ( Ann. xv.
— from Helps to Latin Translation at Sight by Edmund Luce - Shortly after this he was accused of complicity in an abortive conspiracy against the Medici, imprisoned, and put to the question by torture.
— from The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli - Note 609 ( return ) [ Seneca was accused of complicity in the conspiracy of Caius Piso.
— from The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius - And on the other hand, if it is proved that there was no complicity between the authors of the two papers, the copied paper is the only one canceled.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - Such mistakes are made particularly when determining the complicity of the accused.
— from Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students by Hans Gross - "ARTICLE II.—All citizens and public officials are bound to refuse him obedience under penalty of complicity.
— from The History of a Crime by Victor Hugo - He was terrified at this savage woman who had brought him in there, and would probably saddle him with complicity, at least if he were not careful.
— from The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale by Joseph Conrad - He had a motive for securing your innocent complicity.
— from Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne - We simply catalogue the situation as complicity, but we have no statutes for the fact that the woman naturally could do nothing else.
— from Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students by Hans Gross - A secret investigation had cleared him of any complicity in Tennessee's guilt, and left only a suspicion of his general sanity.
— from The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales by Bret Harte - Doctor Regidor was formerly an official in the Philippines, and later proved his innocence of any complicity in the troubles of ’72.
— from Lineage, Life and Labors of José Rizal, Philippine Patriot by Austin Craig - [299] 1 The native priests Burgos, Gomez, and Zamora, charged with complicity in the uprising of 1872, and executed.—Tr.
— from The Reign of Greed by José Rizal - M. Collins has requested the history of my complicity with certain occurrences.
— from The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales by Bret Harte - And not only once, but as often as by change of dress or complicity of the inspectors, they might be able to repeat the process.
— from History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I