Literary notes about doublet (AI summary)
The term “doublet” in literature is used not only as a descriptor for a specific style of clothing but also as a cultural signifier that conveys elements of character, social status, and even humor. In historical romances like those of Alexandre Dumas and Walter Scott ([1], [2], [3], [4], [5]), the doublet often marks the refined dress and noble bearing of its wearer while also sometimes illustrating moments of human frailty or comic disarray—as when buttons go undone or the garment is used to symbolize a hastily abandoned identity ([6], [7]). In works by Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde ([8], [9], [10], [11]), the doublet becomes part of witty repartee and social commentary, suggesting that attire can both define and mask a man’s nature. Additionally, in texts like Durkheim’s philosophical musings ([12]), the word extends its reach to serve metaphorically as a “doublet” of ideas, showing how its layered connotations transcend the literal garment to comment on the dualities of human life.
- The king made his way through the crowd without a mask, and the ribbons of his doublet scarcely tied.
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - He will wear on his doublet twelve diamond studs; get as near to him as you can, and cut off two.
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - Aramis blushed to the eyes, crammed in the letter, and re-buttoned his doublet.
— from The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - It is true, I gave a little ground at first, for a motley jacket does not brook lance-heads, as a steel doublet will.
— from Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott - This formidable baron was clad in a leathern doublet, fitted close to his body, which was frayed and soiled with the stains of his armour.
— from Ivanhoe: A Romance by Walter Scott - Soon--strange fact--Aramis undid two buttons of his doublet, seeing which, Porthos unfastened his entirely.
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - One by one he undid the buttons of his doublet, took it off and deposited it by the side of his hat.
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - Didst thou not fall out with a tailor for wearing his new doublet before Easter?
— from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare - What a pretty thing man is when he goes in his doublet and hose and leaves off his wit! CLAUDIO.
— from Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare - Thou knowest that the fashion of a doublet, or a hat, or a cloak, is nothing to a man.
— from Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare - I have watched her wandering through the forest of Arden, disguised as a pretty boy in hose and doublet and dainty cap.
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - The fact that these two themes exist side by side in the same myth completes the proof that one is only a doublet of the other.
— from The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life by Émile Durkheim
