Literary notes about perfidy (AI summary)
Literary authors often invoke "perfidy" to evoke a sense of crushing betrayal and moral treachery. In narratives of personal relationships, it conveys the searing hurt of broken trust, as when the sting of dishonesty is compared to a knife wound ([1]) or when a beloved partner’s betrayal leaves deep emotional scars ([2], [3]). In historical and political contexts, the term becomes a powerful indictment of deceit and unfaithfulness in public affairs, characterizing acts of ruthless treachery by leaders and nations ([4], [5], [6], [7]). Poets likewise employ "perfidy" to intensify themes of inconstancy and the collapse of moral values, often intertwining it with images of cunning and calculated malice ([8], [9]). Across these varied settings, "perfidy" emerges as a potent emblem of both personal and institutional betrayal, a word that richly deepens the portrayal of characters and events fraught with moral ambiguity and lasting repercussions.
- The knowledge of Hurstwood's perfidy wounded her like a knife.
— from Sister Carrie: A Novel by Theodore Dreiser - He was quite certain now that she knew he was married and was angered at his perfidy.
— from Sister Carrie: A Novel by Theodore Dreiser - I forgot the former lessons I had learned from her perfidy.
— from Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall by Charles Major - The case of alleged perfidy, with enormous undoubted cruelty, practiced by Cæsar against his German enemies.
— from The Chautauquan, Vol. 04, March 1884, No. 6 by Chautauqua Institution - Thus Achaeus, in spite of having taken every reasonable precaution, lost his life by the perfidy of those in whom he trusted.
— from The Histories of Polybius, Vol. 1 (of 2) by Polybius - The servile Geeks, Eunapius and Zosimus, disguise the Roman oppression, and execrate the perfidy of the Barbarians.
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - Oppression of the natives followed, famine, insurrection, perfidy and all [p. 140] the rest of the litany of evils which can afflict mankind.
— from Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay by Immanuel Kant - From mighty wrongs to petty perfidy Have I not seen what human things could do?
— from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage by Baron George Gordon Byron Byron - Well may you be surprised and feel for the indelicate situation which your Perfidy has forced me into.
— from The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan