Literary notes about effeminate (AI summary)
Literary usage of the term “effeminate” often implies a departure from traditional masculine vigor, suggesting a softness, weakness, or moral delicacy in character. Classical works, for instance, critique how indulgence in music or excessive passion renders one less robust and more irritable [1],[2]. Later texts associate the word with traits such as vanity, laziness, or even a penchant for dishonesty in men, thereby marking them as deviating from the norm of strength [3],[4]. At times, the descriptor is employed not only as a moral indictment but also to evoke the aesthetic sensibilities of refined sensitivity, though always contrasted against an ideal of resolute manhood [5],[6].
- Music, if carried too far, renders the weaker nature effeminate, the stronger irritable.
— from The Republic of Plato by Plato - To be swayed by gusts of passion is common to us with the wild beasts, with the most effeminate wretches, with Nero and with Phalaris.
— from The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus by Emperor of Rome Marcus Aurelius - Dishonesty is, however, a specially feminine characteristic, and in men occurs only when they are effeminate.
— from Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners, and Students by Hans Gross - He said he was vain, selfish, lazy, and effeminate.
— from Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray - O sweet Juliet, Thy beauty hath made me effeminate And in my temper soften’d valour’s steel.
— from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare - From Man's effeminate slackness it begins, Said the Angel, who should better hold his place By wisdom, and superiour gifts received.
— from Paradise Lost by John Milton
