Literary notes about felony (AI summary)
The term "felony" has been used in literature with a surprising range of connotations, from strict legal indictments to broader reflections on moral and social disorder. Early examples—such as Jefferson’s listing of felonies as embodiments of base wickedness [1]—set a tone of grave, almost elemental sinfulness. Over time, authors expanded its use: Aesop even linked a felony to the specific indulgence in certain foods [2], while Dickens, Conan Doyle, and others deployed the term to evoke both literal criminal acts and metaphorical excursions into moral decay or social disruption [3, 4, 5, 6]. In works like Wuthering Heights and The Decameron, felony becomes an instrument for emphasizing ethical breaches or the cost of misdirected passion [7, 8, 9]. More modern narratives sometimes wryly critique its usage within societal structures or legal systems [10, 11, 12], illustrating how this loaded word has evolved to capture a spectrum of transgressions that extend beyond its original, strictly juridical meaning.
- Felonie , sb. base wickedness, MD; felony , S; felonye , S2, S3, C3, W2.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - He can even trace the origin of every felony to the particular kind of food in which the felon has indulged.
— from Aesop's Fables by Aesop - ‘This is Christopher Nubbles, isn’t it, that come in last night for felony?’ said the man.
— from The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens - As if a man bent on felony would slam his door so as to wake a household.
— from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just possible that I am saving a soul.
— from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - At last, me and Compeyson was both committed for felony,—on a charge of putting stolen notes in circulation,—and there was other charges behind.
— from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - I’d inform if he were my own son: and it’s felony without benefit of clergy!’
— from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë - 'Tis felony to waste another's ware; Yea, and right grievous sin.
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio - 'Tis felony to waste another's ware.
— from The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio by Giovanni Boccaccio - In the year 1404 an act of parliament was passed declaring the making of gold and silver to be felony.
— from Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay - In nearly all communities wife beating is punishable with a fine, and in no community is it made a felony.
— from The Red Record by Ida B. Wells-Barnett - “I guess we are aiding and abetting a felony, Watson?
— from The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
