Literary notes about malefactor (AI summary)
In literary works, malefactor is employed as a pointed designation for a wrongdoer—a character whose malevolent actions invoke moral judgment and the inevitability of retribution. Authors use the term to underscore the severity of a character’s misdeeds, whether in historical accounts that dramatize acts of defiance and punishment [1, 2] or in more allegorical and biblical texts where moral transgression is met with divine or legal consequence [3, 4]. Its appearance in dramatic passages, such as those echoing Shakespearean language [5, 6], further reinforces its role as a symbol of guilt and the darker facets of human behavior, serving as a pivot around which themes of justice and redemption revolve.
- A panther was let loose; and the archer waited till he had leaped upon a trembling malefactor.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - 33 A panther was let loose; and the archer waited till he had leaped upon a trembling malefactor.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - Κακοποιός, οῦ, ὁ, ἡ, (fr. same) an evil-doer, 1 Pe. 2.12, et al.; a malefactor, cirminal, Jno. 18.30.
— from A Greek-English Lexicon to the New Testament by William Greenfield - They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee.
— from The Bible for Young People - But yet is as a gailer to bring forth Some monstrous malefactor.
— from Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by E. Nesbit and William Shakespeare - 'But yet' is as a gaoler to bring forth Some monstrous malefactor.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
