Adultery
Alcmenaunknowingly commits adultery when Jupiter impersonates her husband. [Rom. Lit.: Amphitryon]
betrays old husband amusingly with her lodger, Nicholas. [Br. Lit.: Canterbury Tales, “Miller’s Tale”]
eventually has child by lover, not husband. [Fr. Lit.: Mont-Oriol, Magill I, 618–620]
pressured by David to commit adultery during husband’s absence. [O.T.: II Samuel 11:4]
sensual wife of Leopold has an affair with Blazes Boylan. [Irish Lit.: Joyce Ulysses in Magill I, 1040]
acquires lovers to find rapture marriage lacks. [Fr. Lit.: Madame Bovary, Magill I, 539–541]
fatefully falls for general’s wife. [Am. Lit.: Mourning Becomes Electra]
even with Daisy’s knowledge, deliberately has affairs. [Am. Lit.: The Great Gatsby]
takes the gameskeeper of her impotent husband as her lover. [Br. Lit.: D. H. Lawrence Lady Chatterley’s Lover in Benét, 559]
takes Aegisthus as paramour. [Gk. Lit.: Orestes]
group of ten husbands sleep with each others’ wives. [Am. Lit.: Weiss, 108]
amours with Sordello while married to first husband. [Br. Lit.: Sordello]
symbol of infidelity. [Flower Symbolism: Jobes, 398]
Jeanne’s young philandering husband, who has affairs with her foster-sister and their neighbor’s wife. [Fr. Lit.: Maupassant A Woman’s Life in Magill I, 1127]
Puritan minister who commits adultery. [Am. Lit.: Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter]
King Arthur’s unfaithful wife. [Br. Lit.: Le Morte d’Arthur]
insatiable husband plays the field. [Am. Lit.: Herzog]
Alfonso’s wife; gives herself to Don Juan. [Br. Lit.: “Don Juan” in Magill I, 217–219]
commits adultery with Count Vronsky; scandalizes Russian society. [Russ. Lit.: Anna Karenina]
enters into an adulterous relationship with Guinevere. [Br. Lit.: Malory Le Mort d’Arthur]
conspires with lover to poison husband; discovered, commits suicide. [Am. Lit.: Mourning Becomes Electra]
personification of adultery. [Br. Lit.: The Purple Island, Brewer Handbook, 715]
bored with husband, acquires Trukhashevsky as lover. [Russ. Lit.: The Kreutzer Sonata, Magill I, 481–483]
adulterous woman in Puritan New England; condemned to wear a scarlet letter. [Am. Lit.: The Scarlet Letter]
“A” for “adultery” sewn on Hester Prynne’s dress. [Am. Lit.: The Scarlet Letter]
after Nedda’s repulsion, tells husband of her infidelities. [Ital. Opera: Leoncavallo, Pagliacci, Westerman, 341–342]
misprint gives Commandment: “Thou shalt commit adultery.” [sic] [Br. Hist.: Brewer Dictionary, 108]
Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Adultery
(dreams)Many people seem to have dreams about committing adultery or about their spouse committing adultery (cheating or being cheated on). In this dictionary there is a definition for cheating and here I will add a few more thoughts about this dream topic. Many dreams come from the private unconscious and are a reflection on thoughts, fears, desires, or issues, or are a response to stressful or anxiety provoking situations. The details of the dream need to be considered before attempting an interpretation. Details such as who is cheating on whom and what are the circumstances surrounding this dream event need to be established. At times people have dreams about cheating on their spouses as a response to a long and monogamous relationship. The dream may be a compensation for boredom, monotony, or unhappiness. On the other hand, the dream could be about you connecting to deeper parts of self, which is represented by a desirable person of the opposite sex. On rare occasions a person may suspect, or feel on some level, that their mate is not faithful but is not willing to admit this consciously. Thus, in the dream state the individual confronts his fears and from there may begin to deal with the situation on a conscious level.
Bedside Dream Dictionary by Silvana Amar Copyright © 2007 by Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.