From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Adultery in literature
Adultery in literature
The theme of adultery has been used in a wide range of nothing was he known as a "chronicler of suburban adultery".
literature through the ages, and has served as a theme Updike’s most famous novels – Couples, the Rabbit tetrology,
for some of the greatest works ever written, such as Anna The Witches of Eastwick – were peopled by characters, such as
Karenina and Madame Bovary. As a theme it brings in- Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, who were lax-conscienced pleasure-
tense emotions into the foreground, and has conse- seekers barely troubled by illicit sexual adventure."
quences for all concerned. It also automatically brings • Kingsley Amis: That Uncertain Feeling (M,F)
its own conflict, between the people concerned and be- • Leopoldo Alas: La Regenta (F)
tween sexual desires and a sense of loyalty. • Malcolm Bradbury: The History Man (M,F)
As marriage and family are often regarded as basis of • John Braine: The Jealous God (M,F)
society a story of adultery often shows the conflict be- • Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre (M,F)
tween social pressure and individual struggle for happi- • James M. Cain: The Postman Always Rings Twice (F)
ness. • Geoffrey Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales (M,F)
In the Bible, incidents of adultery are present almost • Kate Chopin: The Awakening (F)
from the start. The story of Abraham contains several in- • Albert Cohen: Belle du Seigneur (F)
cidents and serve as warnings or stories of sin and for- • Ivy Compton-Burnett: A Heritage and Its History (F)
giveness. Abraham attempts to continue his blood line • F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby (M,F); Tender Is
through his wife’s maidservant, with consequences that the Night (M,F)
continue through history. Jacob’s family life is complicat- • Gustave Flaubert: Madame Bovary (F)
ed with similar incidents. • Theodor Fontane: Effi Briest (M,F)
The following works of literature have adultery and • Ford Maddox Ford: The Good Soldier (M,F)
its consequences as one of their major themes. (M) and • C.S. Forester: Flying Colours, Lord Hornblower (M)
(F) stand for adulterer and adulteress respectively. • Ellen Glasgow: Virginia (M)
• Graham Greene: The end of the affair (F); The Heart of
Drama the Matter (M)
• Mark Haddon: A Spot of Bother (F)
• Edward Albee: Marriage Play (M, ?F) • Josephine Hart: Damage (M)
• Samuel Beckett: Play (M) • Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter (F)
• Simon Gray: Japes (F) • Carl Hiaasen: Skinny Dip (M)
• Euripides: Hippolytos (the suspicion of F) • Francis Iles: Malice Aforethought (M)
• Arthur Miller: Broken Glass (F) • John Irving: The World According to Garp (M,F)
• Peter Nichols: Passion Play (M,F) • Milan Kundera: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (M)
• Harold Pinter: The Homecoming (F) • D. H. Lawrence: Lady Chatterley’s Lover (F)
• Racine: Phèdre (suspicion of F) • David Lodge: Thinks ... (M)
• William Shakespeare: The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor • William Somerset Maugham: Liza of Lambeth (M)
of Venice (no adulterers/esses, though the plot • Arthur Miller: The Crucible (M,F)
revolves around the perception of adultery) • Nicholas Mosley: Natalie Natalia (M)
• William Shakespeare: The Winter’s Tale the suspicion • Iris Murdoch: A Severed Head (M,F)
of adultery initiates the plot • John O’Hara: Elizabeth Appleton (F)
• Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde based on the • Boris Pasternak: Doctor Zhivago (M)
legend of Tristan and Iseult (F) • Raymond Radiguet: Le Bal du Comte d’Orgel (F)
• Hugh Whitemore: Disposing of the Body (M,F) • Irwin Shaw: Lucy Crown (F)
• The Who: Tommy (F) • Rabindranath Tagore: The Home and the World (F)
• Tennessee Williams: Baby Doll (F) • Leo Tolstoy: Anna Karenina (F)
• William Wycherley: The Country Wife (F) • Scott Turow: Presumed Innocent (M)
• Fay Weldon: The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (M)
Fiction • Edith Wharton: Ethan Frome (M)
• A. N. Wilson: Scandal (M,F)
• John Updike: Couples (M,F) • Richard Yates: Revolutionary Road (M,F)
"...Yet in his preoccupations, the indulgent sage of the East
Coast perhaps had more in common with Mortimer. Not for
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Adultery in literature
• Stefan Zweig: Confusion: The Private Papers of Privy
Councillor R. Von D (M)
References
• James Joyce: Ulysses (F) • "Farewell, King John of Suburbia", New Statesman,
• Machado de Assis: Dom Casmurro (F) 29 January 2009
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Categories:
• Adultery in fiction
• Marriage
• Literature by theme
• Sexual fidelity
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