Literary notes about deign (AI summary)
Writers often employ "deign" to signal a reluctant lowering of status or dignity, typically when someone of high rank grants a favor or attention considered beneath them. In these narratives, a character's decision to "deign" implies both an assertion of superiority and a conditional act of grace. For instance, the term appears when a monarch is expected to humble himself by accepting a role or request ([1],[2]), while in other contexts it highlights the emotional plea of a character who suffers from the refusal to be noticed or treated as equal ([3],[4]). This careful use of "deign" effectively underscores the tension between social hierarchy and personal sentiment across a wide range of literary works ([5],[6]).
- “It is that the king should deign to stand godfather to the son of Madame de Longueville.”
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - “Will the queen deign to follow my advice?” “Speak.”
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - O lady, deign to hold in remembrance this heart, thy vassal, that thus in anguish pines for love of thee.”
— from The History of Don Quixote, Volume 1, Complete by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra - “You won’t deign to demean yourself by marrying me, you...” said Hélène, beginning to cry.
— from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy - Har: With thee a Man condemn'd, a Slave enrol'd, Due by the Law to capital punishment? To fight with thee no man of arms will deign.
— from The Poetical Works of John Milton by John Milton - “When will your Majesty deign to receive him?”
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet
