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Literary notes about mockery (AI summary)

In literature, the word "mockery" is used to evoke a range of emotions, from bitter scorn and ridicule to tragic irony and subtle satire. It can capture the personal pain of being belittled, as when a smile seems to disdain heartfelt words [1], or comment on a broader societal injustice, where cruelty or hypocrisy is exposed through derisive imitations of noble ideals [2]. At times, mockery serves as a tool to underline the absurdity of human conventions, whether through the gross distortion of a sacred rite [3] or by portraying the shattered hopes within a distorted sense of justice [4]. Moreover, its usage often conveys a complex interplay between admiration and contempt, as characters simultaneously confront the ridiculousness of their circumstances while remaining drawn to the human drama it unveils [5].
  1. I would not choose to see the man against whom I pleaded smile, as though in mockery of my words.
    — from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet
  2. Base souls have no belief in great men; vile slaves smile in mockery at the name of liberty.
    — from The Social Contract & Discourses by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  3. What mockery will it be To want the bridegroom when the priest attends To speak the ceremonial rites of marriage!
    — from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
  4. During the whole of this wretched mockery of justice, I suffered living torture.
    — from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  5. He, he, the girl's betrothed, looked at her with that smile of mockery, which was more insufferable from him than from any one.
    — from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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