Self-Sacrifice
Aïdadies with her beloved Radames. [Ital. Opera: Verdi, Aïda, Westerman, 325]
offered self up to die in the stead of Admetus. [Gk. Myth.: Leach, 11]
self-sacrificing captain of New England rebels. [Br. Lit.: Shaw The Devil’s Disciple in Benét, 267]
monk gives up everything to serve others and reform the Church. [Ital. Lit.: The Saint in Magill II, 929]
gives up Casaubon’s fortune for Ladislaw’s affection. [Br. Lit.: Middlemarch, Magill I, 588–591]
gives up Armand so as not to endanger his career. [Fr. Lit.: La Dame aux Camélias]
permits himself to be guillotined in place of Darnay. [Br. Lit.: Dickens A Tale of Two Cities]
dies in wilderness attempting to help Paolo. [Ital. Lit.: Bread and Wine]
Posa, Marquis clears prince’s name in conspiracy by indicting himself. [Ger. Lit.: Don Carlos]
Father Fontana accompanies deported Jews to Auschwitz and dies with them in the gas chambers. [Ger. Drama: Weiss, 124]
water-carrier killed as he rescues narrator of story. [Br. Lit.: “Gunga Din” in Benét, 430]
intends to marry Svidrigailov to relieve her brother’s poverty. [Russ. Lit.: Crime and Punishment]
to save rebel leader Parson Anderson from the gallows, the reprobate Dudgeon allows himself to be arrested and sentenced to death. [Br. Drama: Shaw The Devil’s Disciple in Benét, 267]
during fight, gives his life to save Marius. [Fr. Lit.: Les Misérables]
woman becomes prostitute to support daughter. [Fr. Lit.: Les Misérables]
husband and wife each give up own treasure to buy the other’s Christmas present. [Am. Lit.: “The Gift of the Magi” in Benét, 395]
sacrifices self to save her beloved Duke’s life. [Ital. Opera: Verdi, Rigoletto, Westerman, 300]
des accompanies banished Manon to exile in Louisiana. [Fr. Lit.: Mahon Lescaut]
dies in storm on errand of mercy. [Nor. Lit.: Giants in the Earth, Magill I, 303–304]
Highwayman’s sweetheart, shoots herself to help him avoid capture. [Br. Poetry: Noyes “The Highwayman”]
daughter accepts father’s vow to God to die in exchange for his victory. [O. T.: Judges 11:30–40]
died on cross to save mankind. [N.T.: Matthew 27:24–61]
young American teacher in Spain who gives his life helping the Loyalist guerrillas. [Am. Lit.: Hemingway For Whom the Bell Tolls]
Japanese suicide pilots; embodiment of “death before dishonor.” [Jap. Hist.: Fuller, III, 618–619]
the sacrifices her own life to save her beloved prince. [Dan. Lit.: Andersen’s Fairy Tales]
executed with lover Andrea. [Ital. Opera: Giordano, Andrea Chénier, Westerman, 370–371]
his desire for martyrdom makes him willing to marry a neurotic woman of easy virtue. [Russ. Lit.: Dostoevsky The Idiot]
kills himself so that three other outcasts may survive. [Am. Lit.: The Outcasts of Poker Flat]
becomes a prostitute to support family. [Am. Lit.: The Jungle]
tears open breast to feed young. [Christian Symbolism: de Bles, 29]
leads Poles astray to safeguard tsar; executed. [Russ. Opera: Glinka, A Life for the Tsar, Westerman, 379]
courtesan renounces her lover in order to save nis family from scandal. [Ital. Opera: Verdi La Traviata in Benét, 1022]
Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.