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Literary notes about malice (AI summary)

Writers employ the word malice to evoke a sense of deep-seated ill will and to highlight the destructive passions within human nature. In some works, it paints a picture of deliberate cruelty and enmity—a calculated harm done for revenge or spite, as seen when a knight’s grief transforms into vengeful malice [1] or when a covert persecutor operates with a hidden agenda [2]. Other texts use malice to contrast a state of purity, urging that one remain untainted by negative impulses [3][4]. Additionally, malice is sometimes portrayed as an intrinsic flaw or a sign of character corruption, its presence marking betrayals and the ensuing personal and societal downfall [5][6]. This range of usage—from moral admonition to vivid characterization—demonstrates how malice serves as a powerful literary tool to deepen our understanding of human vice and conflict.
  1. But when Sir Gawain heard of his brethren’s death he swooned for sorrow and wrath, for he wist that Sir Lancelot had killed them in malice.
    — from The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights by Sir James Knowles and Sir Thomas Malory
  2. The widow employed her woman’s malice to devise a system of covert persecution.
    — from Father Goriot by Honoré de Balzac
  3. But in malice be children: and in sense be perfect.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  4. And he was truthful, and free from malice, and of subdued senses.
    — from The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1
  5. When I reflected on his crimes and malice, my hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  6. As I looked on him, his countenance expressed the utmost extent of malice and treachery.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

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