Sin
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6.Pollution, curse and blood-guilt
6a.Inherited curses upon houses and lands
Aeschylus, AgamemnonVol. 8
- p. 34–35Old crime breeds a young curse; Ate, sin's child, broods on the race.read · scan
- p. 46–48House of Atreus cursed by God with blood-stained hands of kindred.read · scan
- p. 71–72Thyestes' curse fell on Pelops' house after he unknowingly ate his children.read · scan
Euripides, HippolytusVol. 8
- p. 338–340Theseus wonders whether ancestral sins done long ago are being avenged by a remembering god.read · scan
BeowulfVol. 49
- p. 88The curse marked with sin the man who robbed the hoard, bound in hell-bonds.read · scan
John Webster, The Duchess of MalfiVol. 47
- p. 786Ferdinand thinks heaven revenges some sin in them through the sister.read · scan
Jean Racine, PhaedraVol. 26
- p. 177–180Hippolytus hints that incest and adultery are Phaedra's family's taint; Phaedra dreads guilt of shedding blood.read · scan
Sir Walter Scott, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 740–742His breast harbors wrath and hate sworn to the first sin; redeemed only by Agnes' love.read · scan
John Greenleaf Whittier, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1342–1344Remorse traced by dying hand; the curse is on the land for its wrong.read · scan
- p. 1346–1347Virginia's soil of sin and curse; we wash our hands of your shame.read · scan
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1030–1031Inherited sin is heaped on the brother as scapegoat of the race.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 241–242Christian nations' vices bring disease to islanders; the curse of a people calling themselves Christian follows them.read · scan
James Russell Lowell, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1371–1372Compromise with sin enslaves posterity.read · scan
6b.Blood that cannot be washed away
See also: Punishment 7b · Fate 6a · Revenge 4a · Family 10c
Aeschylus, AgamemnonVol. 8
- p. 64–65The Chorus calls her blood-elate, a murderess marked by damned stain.read · scan
Aeschylus, The Libation-BearersVol. 8
- p. 78–79Murder's stain cannot be washed away even by all the world's streams; crime breeds crime.read · scan
- p. 98–100Clytemnestra's offerings seek to sunder sin from doom, but Orestes says offerings cannot atone for spilled blood.read · scan
- p. 118–119Orestes displays the bloodstained robe, exults and grieves over matricide, feeling pollution and guilt even while claiming the deed was rightful.read · scan
- p. 120Fresh bloodshed on his hands is said to sink distraction into his soul; the shrine offers cleansing.read · scan
Aeschylus, The FuriesVol. 8
- p. 123–126Apollo the cleanser will purify Orestes of matricide, admitting he ordered the deed.read · scan
- p. 127They say the guilt of blood stains the shrine, polluted by Apollo's protection of the slayer.read · scan
- p. 131–132Orestes claims guilt is fading and half effaced with time and wandering.read · scan
- p. 133Orestes claims the stain of matricide is purified by rites and time, having passed among men without bringing a curse.read · scan
- p. 140–142Orestes claims expiation and cleansing from blood-guilt by rites, beasts and running streams, though he has slain his mother.read · scan
- p. 144–147Orestes was cleansed of blood-guilt by Apollo; the murder is called a double stain.read · scan
The Book of PsalmsVol. 44
- p. 278–281Israel served idols, sacrificed children to demons, polluted the land with blood and defilement.read · scan
Sophocles, Oedipus the KingVol. 8
- p. 209The god bids the land drive out the pollution of guilt that remains unhealed.read · scan
- p. 209Blood-guilt blasts the state as pollution.read · scan
- p. 215The murderer is a curse and pollution to be denied prayer, sacrifice and cleansing.read · scan
- p. 218–223The unnamed doer of bloody deed of shame is hunted by oracle and divine wrath.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of MacbethVol. 46
- p. 341–343Macbeth's bloody hands cannot be cleansed by all the ocean; guilt overwhelms him while she thinks a little water clears the deed.read · scan
- p. 381–382Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking guilt: the imagined bloodstain that will not wash away shows conscience tormenting her over Duncan's murder.read · scan
John Woolman, The Journal of John WoolmanVol. 1
- p. 297–298Water of separation figures purification from sin; carnal mind is death and defilement.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19
- p. 191–192Mephistopheles turns guilt back on Faust: who plunged her into perdition? Blood-guilt of the murder lies on the town.read · scan
Friedrich Schiller, William TellVol. 26
- p. 484–485Tell recoils in horror on recognizing the unhappy regicide, whose hand is stained with blood.read · scan
Percy Bysshe Shelley, The CenciVol. 18
- p. 301–305Beatrice feels a contaminating pollution poisoning her inmost spirit.read · scan
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1043–1044After the duel he feels a guilty hand and hears the cry of blood: 'The fault was mine.'read · scan
Robert Browning, A Blot in the 'ScutcheonVol. 18
- p. 392–399He compares his deed to a fabled crime that unleashes a Fury upon all.read · scan
6c.The pollution of the involuntary offender
See also: Family 10d
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 151–152Epicaste unwittingly weds her own son, the slayer of his father; the gods reveal it and she hangs herself.read · scan
Sophocles, Oedipus the KingVol. 8
- p. 228Oedipus calls himself vile and unclean, fearing the guilt and pollution of incest and murder.read · scan
- p. 245–246Oedipus blinds himself so as not to see the ills he suffered and did.read · scan
- p. 246–248Oedipus, guilt-stricken and polluted, calls himself most accursed and hateful to the gods for parricide and incest.read · scan
- p. 248Oedipus defends his self-blinding, declaring himself vile and polluted, unable to face his parents in Hades or the city.read · scan
- p. 251Creon urges shame and reverence for the Sun-God so the polluted sight is hidden; Oedipus calls himself the pest and parricide.read · scan
Euripides, HippolytusVol. 8
- p. 360–362Artemis says Theseus's fault, done in ignorance, differs from wickedness and is forgivable.read · scan
- p. 365–367Hippolytus absolves Theseus of murder, since he did not knowingly slay him.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 420–421The Marid pardons them as innocent since they acted in ignorance of the request's offense.read · scan
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