Cuckoldry

views updated Jun 08 2018

145. Cuckoldry (See also Adultery, Faithlessness.)

  1. Actaeons horns symbol of cuckoldry. [Medieval and Ren. Folklore: Walsh Classical, 5]
  2. antlers metaphorical decoration for deceived husband. [Western Folklore: Jobes, 395]
  3. Arveragus delivers wife to adulterer to keep promise. [Br. Lit.: Canterbury Tales, The Franklins Tale]
  4. Boylan, Blazes cuckolds Leopold Bloom. [Irish Lit.: James Joyce Ulysses in Magill I, 1040]
  5. Cabot, Ephraim Abbie, his young wife, seduces his youngest son Eben. [Am. Drama: Eugene ONeill Desire Under the Elms ]
  6. Chatterley, Sir Clifford cripple whose wife has a prolonged affair with his gamekeeper. [Br. Lit.: D. H. Lawrence Lady Chatterleys Lover in Benét, 559]
  7. cuckoo symbolizes adulterous betrayal by wife. [Western Folklore: Jobes, 395; Mercatante, 164]
  8. del Sarto, Andrea cuckolded Florentine painter; protagonist of Brownings poem. [Art Hist.: Walsh Modern, 1920; Br. Lit.: Andrea del Sarto in Norton, 778783]
  9. Hildebrand, Old sent away while wife and preacher play. [Ger. Fairy Tale: Grimm, 333]
  10. Mannon, Ezra kindly general deceived by adulterous wife and murdered. [Am. Lit.: Mourning Becomes Electra ]
  11. Mark, King by Tristan after May-December marriage to Isolde. [Ger. Opera: Wagner, Tristan and Isolde, Westerman, 220]
  12. Menelaus his wife, Helen, was also Pariss lover. [Gk. Lit.: Iliad ]
  13. Rubin, Maximiliano sickly pharmacist; wifes infidelities begin on wedding night. [Span. Lit.: Fortunata and Jacinta ]
  14. Trusotsky learns from his dead wifes letters that she had numerous lovers and that he is not the father of his child. [Russ. Lit.: Dostoevsky The Eternal Husband ]
  15. Uriah the Hittite while he is at war, his wife sleeps with David. [O.T.: II Samuel 11:6]