Profligacy
Arrowsmith, Martinsimultaneously engaged to Madeline and Leona. [Am. Lit.: Arrowsmith]
wealthy profligate; keeps Tom as gigolo. [Br. Lit.: Tom Jones]
pleasure-loving prodigal; lacks discipline. [Br. Lit.: Amelia]
(1725–1798) myriad amours made his name synonymous with philanderer. [Ital. Hist.: Benét, 172]
internationally active profligate and seducer. [Span. Lit.: Benét, 279; Ger. Opera: Mozart, Don Giovanni, Wester-man, 93–95]
British soldier wenches his way around world. [Br. Lit.: Flashman]
Emperor’s dashing and talented bastard woos many. [Jap. Lit.: The Tale of Genii]
scorns and craftily tests feminine virtue. [Br. Lit.: Cymbeline]
manly but all too human young man; has numerous amorous adventures. [Br. Lit.: Tom Jones]
lusty and violent in most of his actions. [Russ. Lit.: Dostoevsky The Brothers Karamazov]
young rake and seducer. [Br. Lit.: The Fair Penitent]
from bully to dissipative rake and cruel husband. [Br. Lit.: Barry Lyndon]
gambler and robber; has scores of illegitimate offspring. [Br. Opera: The Beggar’s Opera]
Hogarth prints illustrating the headlong career and sorry end of a libertine. [Br. Art: EB (1963) XI, 625]
loses his wife, lover, and esteem by philandering. [Span. Lit.: Fortunata and Jacinta]
sales representative known for lavish living, gambling, amorality. [Br. Lit.: The Old Wives’ Tale, Magill I, 684–686]
magic land of illicit pleasure where Venus keeps court. [Ger. Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 932]
supreme of Greek gods; extramarital affairs were count-less. [Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 292]
Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.