Literary notes about slander (AI summary)
The term slander in literature is often employed as a powerful emblem of defamation and moral injury—a weapon that tarnishes reputations and severs bonds among characters. In Shakespeare’s works, for instance, aggressive assertions of defamation call attention to a loss of honor and identity ([1], [2]), while in narrative novels, authors like George Eliot depict slander as an almost palpable force, one that not only misrepresents truth but also triggers irrevocable personal consequences ([3]). Philosophical texts, such as those by Nietzsche, extend this concept by critiquing the broader impact of slander on societal values and the individual’s spiritual well-being ([4], [5]). In these varied contexts, slander is simultaneously a legal and ethical transgression whose reverberations illuminate the precarious nature of reputation and trust in human relationships.
- Thy face is mine, and thou hast slander’d it.
— from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare - For if she be not honest, chaste, and true, There's no man happy; the purest of their wives Is foul as slander.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - "Nothing galls me more than the notion of turning round and running away before this slander, leaving it unchecked behind me.
— from Middlemarch by George Eliot - He accuses such idealists of hypocrisy and guile; he says they lack innocence in their desires and therefore slander all desiring.
— from Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - Slander has to be carried to a fine art for this purpose.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book I and II by Nietzsche
