Literary notes about malediction (AI summary)
Literary uses of the word malediction are as diverse as they are potent, serving as both a symbol of divine retribution and a vivid expression of personal condemnation. In historical and religious narratives, the term conveys the weight of destiny and curse, as seen when it evokes divine disfavor or the inexorable nature of fate ([1], [2], [3]). At the same time, authors use malediction with dramatic flourish to punctuate moments of bitterness or despair, whether through the abrupt curse of a character whose words betray their inner turmoil ([4], [5]) or as an emblem of the inescapable misfortune that can befall individuals or their heritage ([6], [7]). Thus, malediction functions not only as a literal curse but also as a symbolic device that encapsulates the themes of condemnation and tragic inevitability in literature.
- For having affronted the Brahmanas I, by (virtue of) Agastya’s malediction, have come by this condition.
— from The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 - All things that are of the earth, shall return into the earth: so the ungodly shall from malediction to destruction.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - And if you be born, you shall be born in malediction: and if you die, in malediction shall be your portion.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - Human words were, for him, always a raillery or a malediction.
— from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo - If only my malediction is needed for that, I bestow it upon him!
— from Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo - But still the disappointed father held a strong lever; and Fred felt as if he were being banished with a malediction.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot - Her birth is commonly regarded as a humiliation and a disgrace to the family—an evident sign of the malediction of heaven.
— from Primitive Love and Love-Stories by Henry T. Finck