Literary notes about paramour (AI summary)
In literature, the word "paramour" is most often used to denote a lover—frequently one involved in secret or illicit romances—that carries connotations of both passion and transgression. Authors employ it to evoke the tenderness and scandal of forbidden love, as in a storyline where a queen’s chosen companion is both admired and questioned [1]. At times it appears in contexts laden with moral or even legal consequences, suggesting that its connection is not only of the heart but fraught with societal or personal peril [2]. In Renaissance plays and medieval romances alike, such as in Shakespeare and Marlowe, the term imbues the narrative with an archaic sense of chivalric betrayal or tragic romance [3][4][5], while elsewhere it underscores the complex interplay between love, honor, and downfall [6][7].
- Who takes it into his head to become the paramour of a queen unless the advances are from her?
— from On Love by Stendhal - If the wife or wives of any private individual are guilty of adultery, upon good proof, both the woman and her paramour are put to death.
— from A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 08 by Robert Kerr - [Aside] Fond man, remember that thou hast a wife; Then how can Margaret be thy paramour?
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - Shall I believe That unsubstantial death is amorous; And that the lean abhorred monster keeps Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
— from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare - Spirits in the shapes of ALEXANDER THE GREAT, of his Paramour and of HELEN.
— from The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe - The nightingale there all night long, Spring's paramour, pours forth her song The fountain brawls, sweetbriers bloom, And lo! where lies a marble tomb
— from Eugene Oneguine [Onegin] by Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin - He has learned that his mother was not merely what he supposed but an adulteress, and that his father was murdered by her paramour.
— from Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth by A. C. Bradley
