Cuckoldry (See also Adultery, Faithlessness.) Allusions, Definition, Citation, Reference, Information - Allusion to Cuckoldry (See also Adultery, Faithlessness.)


  1. Actaeon’s 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 Franklin’s 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 O’Neill Desire Under the Elms]
  6. Chatterley, Sir Clifford cripple whose wife has a prolonged affair with his gamekeeper. [Br. Lit.: D. H. Lawrence Lady Chatterley’s 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 Browning’s poem. [Art Hist.: Walsh Modern, 19–20; Br. Lit.: “Andrea del Sarto” in Norton, 778–783]
  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 Paris’s lover. [Gk. Lit.: Iliad]
  13. Rubin, Maximiliano sickly pharmacist; wife’s infidelities begin on wedding night. [Span. Lit.: Fortunata and Jacinta]
  14. Trusotsky learns from his dead wife’s 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]