Literary notes about impudence (AI summary)
The term impudence in literature is frequently employed to denote a bold audacity that borders on insolence, often serving as a mirror to the human condition. Authors use it to both criticize and satirize characters whose brazen behavior defies social expectations, as when one is remarked to have an “excess of impudence” [1] or exhibits “lively impudence” in the face of authority [2]. In other passages, such behavior carries dramatic consequences or even humor, where daring impudence leads to punishment or astonishment—as in the case where a character’s actions on a cross are marked by an almost tragic gall [3] or where a defiant retort is met with bewilderment [4]. This multifaceted use underscores impudence not merely as insolent behavior, but as a dynamic force that both challenges established order and enriches the narrative texture.
- “In fact, I have rarely seen such excess of impudence.”
— from Twenty years after by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet - “I say nothing of which I am ashamed,” replied he, with lively impudence.
— from Emma by Jane Austen - His daring impudence, however, was disappointed of its hope, for, being seized, he paid the penalty on the cross.
— from The Fables of Phædrus by Phaedrus - By the hand of my body, I believe his impudence is infectious!
— from She Stoops to Conquer; Or, The Mistakes of a Night: A Comedy by Oliver Goldsmith
