Literary notes about subterfuge (AI summary)
In literature, "subterfuge" is routinely employed to denote acts of deception or evasive maneuvers ranging from feigned innocence to outright duplicity. It can represent a deliberate pretext or a cunning ruse designed to disguise true motives or obscure harmful intentions, as indicated by its use in reference [1]. At times, it manifests as a trivial ruse—almost playful or desperate in nature—as when characters use minor deceptions to navigate social or political obstacles ([2], [3]); in other instances, it takes on graver overtones, underpinning plots of betrayal and manipulation ([4], [5]). Moreover, authors have wryly noted the inherent dishonesty of such acts, employing the term to critique both personal and systemic evasion, whether on the battlefield ([6]), in romantic entanglements ([7], [8]), or in the broader machinations of power ([9], [10]). This multifaceted usage illustrates how subterfuge serves as a flexible literary tool to explore themes of truth, honor, and moral ambiguity.
- pretense, pretext; false plea &c 617; subterfuge, evasion, shift, shuffle, make-believe; sham &c (deception) 545.
— from Roget's Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget - Now Richard knew these industrious resolutions to be the veriest webs of subterfuge.
— from The President: A Novel by Alfred Henry Lewis - A stroke of luck and a little subterfuge got me out of this dilemma.
— from The Memoirs of General Baron de Marbot by Marbot, Jean-Baptiste-Antoine-Marcelin, baron de - Now, unless I am much mistaken, at the inquest to-day only one—at most, two persons were speaking the truth without reservation or subterfuge.”
— from The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie - The prosecutor positively smiled at the “innocence of this subterfuge.”
— from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - As a subterfuge the so-called Army of England solemnly paraded, marched, and counter-marched.
— from The Story of Napoleon by Harold Wheeler - " "But why?" Driven to subterfuge, she stammered— "Your father is a parson, and your mother wouldn' like you to marry such as me.
— from Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy - And I'd got to dance with the other Miss Gunn," said Godfrey, glad of the subterfuge his uncle had suggested to him.
— from Silas Marner by George Eliot - And for this subterfuge, the world honors that unscrupulous politician!”
— from Polly and Her Friends Abroad by Lillian Elizabeth Roy - " But such a subterfuge betrays both a weak mind and a weak cause.
— from The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves