Literary notes about ruffian (AI summary)
The term ruffian is deployed in literature as a multifaceted label for characters who display unruly, aggressive, or morally dubious behavior. In some works, it is used rather dismissively—such as when a character casts a contemptuous glance at a disreputable man ([1]) or when it underscores crude, almost comic defiance in a cavalier challenge ([2]). At the same time, authors employ the word to hint at a broader societal critique, as seen in Shakespeare’s dramatic invocations ([3], [4]) and Dickens’s gritty portrayals of urban vice ([5]), where the ruffian embodies both physical roughness and ethical failings. In this way, the term enriches characterizations across genres and eras, imbuing narratives with a vivid sense of rebellious, often unpredictable, human nature ([6], [7]).
- "Yankee!" exclaimed Mr. Fogg, darting a contemptuous look at the ruffian.
— from Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne - Suddenly a great drunken ruffian collared him and said— “Out to this time of night again, and hast not brought a farthing home, I warrant me!
— from The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain - If it hath ruffian'd so upon the sea, What ribs of oak, when mountains melt on them, Can hold the mortise?
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - This ruffian hath botch'd up, that thou thereby Mayst smile at this: thou shalt not choose but go; Do not deny.
— from Twelfth Night; Or, What You Will by William Shakespeare - Sikes knew too much, and his ruffian taunts had not galled Fagin the less, because the wounds were hidden.
— from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens - was it true that an ex-ruffian, weighed down with convictions, could rise erect and end by being in the right?
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - You go prowling about the graveyard at night, you ruffian!”
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
