Literary notes about unsuspecting (AI summary)
"Unsuspecting" is often used in literature to highlight a state of innocent vulnerability or unawareness, where characters remain oblivious to looming dangers or deceit. For instance, poets evoke an unsuspecting heart that is entrapped by guile and art ([1]), while novelists depict individuals like Silas, whose faith in friendship blinds him to new betrayals ([2]). The term also casts a wide net by describing the naive nature of various figures—from those in military engagements, where enemies fall prey to unexpected attacks ([3], [4]), to characters whose simple trust leads them into perilous plots ([5], [6]). Across genres, "unsuspecting" serves as a powerful modifier that deepens the dramatic irony and emphasizes the contrast between apparent innocence and the treacheries of life.
- When ev’ry guile and ev’ry art Stand forth in readiness, T’ ensnare the unsuspecting heart, And leave it to distress.
— from Terminal Compromise by Winn Schwartau - It had seemed to the unsuspecting Silas that the friendship had suffered no chill even from his formation of another attachment of a closer kind.
— from Silas Marner by George Eliot - Two squadrons of horse were sent with the deserter, and succeeded in outflanking the unsuspecting enemy.
— from Tacitus: The Histories, Volumes I and II by Cornelius Tacitus - The garrison, all unsuspecting, flocked to that point in order to receive the charge.
— from The Swedish Revolution Under Gustavus Vasa by Paul Barron Watson - Then with alluring, am’rous smiles And nods and other wanton wiles, The unsuspecting youth insnared, And rivall’d me in his regard.-- Next
— from The Satyricon — Complete by Petronius Arbiter - Who can be surprised that an unsuspecting person like myself should have been a victim to such a consummate deceiver!
— from Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray
