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Literary notes about conceit (AI summary)

In literature, the term conceit is employed to portray an inflated self-regard as well as a creative or fanciful metaphorical construction. In some works, it underscores hubris and the inevitable downfall that follows excessive pride, as when Doctor Faustus’s self-conceit lifts him beyond his reach [1]. In other texts, it conveys vanity and a narrow-minded arrogance—a mind so limited that it compensates with inflated self-importance, as noted in a saying about the lesser mind producing greater conceit [2]. At times, conceit appears in characters who indulge in self-admiration to a fault, whether in subtle social observations or dramatic narrative turns, such as when a character reflects on a foolish supposition driven by self-conceit [3] or is described as “puffed up with self-conceit[4].
  1. Till swoln with cunning, 5 of a self-conceit, His waxen wings did mount above his reach, And, melting, heavens conspir'd his overthrow;
    — from The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
  2. The smaller the mind the greater the conceit.
    — from The Aesop for Children by Aesop
  3. Still, there might have been some self-conceit in my foolish supposition the other night.
    — from Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
  4. It’s all the same grey mediocrity, puffed up with self-conceit.”
    — from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

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