Malicious Slander / Literature

Malicious Slander in Literature.

---

By Author:

• Agatha Christie:
  • In the short story collection The Labours of Hercules, one of the cases Hercule Poirot gets to solve deals with this. Poirot is approached by the doctor of a small village, whose wife died a year before. The villagers are all gossiping that the doctor did away with her. It turns out that she was indeed murdered, but not by her husband.
  • Christie also did a version of this plot where Miss Marple's niece Mabel is rumored to have poisoned her husband with arsenic. As in the above example, the husband was murdered, but not by Mabel.

By Catagory:

• In the Chivalric Romances Emare and Florence of Rome, the heroine is accused of having given birth to monsters and exiled.
• The Chivalric Romances Sir Triamour and Erl of Toulouse (among others) revolve about an innocent wife accused of adultery and delivered by a knightly champion.

By Title:

• Basically what the whole plot revolves around in Ian Mcewan's Atonement.
• Prunella Hooper is the source of a vile rumour in Aunt Dimity: Detective: namely, that Kit Smith, the Harrises' stable master had encouraged their adolescent daughter Nell's crush. The worst version had him being caught in the act of abusing her. Naturally, when Prunella is found dead, the police concentrate on Kit as a prime suspect. In fact, Nell is a remarkably self-possessed and mature young woman (like her brother, she finished her university studies early), and though she did set her cap for him from the age of fifteen, he actively resists the idea for several years.
• The Baby-Sitters Club had to deal with this in one book when a diamond ring disappeared from a house where Stacey was babysitting, the couple in question assumed Stacey had taken the ring and threatened to tell all of their other clients about what had happened. The club's business drops to practically nothing, and Stacey feels that even though she didn't take the ring, it's her fault none of the other girls have jobs. Although it turns out that the couple had never gotten around to telling everyone about the ring; the club was just going through a natural slow period, and they were paranoid enough to attribute it to the non-existent rumor.
• The Body in the Library: a young girl was found dead in the library of Mr. and Mrs. Bantry. Soon after this discovery, rumours began to spread that the victim was Mr. Bantry's mistress and that he probably had murdered her too. Poor old guy was cold-shouldered by most of the other villagers and became a recluse until the real murderer was found.
• In The Canterbury Tales, a rebuffed lover kills a member of the family where Constance is staying, and accuses Constance, and is struck dead. The king therefore exonerates and marries her. His mother, annoyed, sent him a letter telling she had given birth to a monster (when that doesn't work, she has Constance and her son exposed in a boat).
• Chronicles of Chaos: In Orphans of Chaos, Miss Daw explains that being Made a Slave in Hera's household was not bad; when you remember the myths, remember also that the Muses — Zeus's bastard children — inspired them.
• Daddy's Little Girl: Ellie considers 'true' crime writer Jake Bern's claims that she was a hysterical, emotionally unstable child and that Andrea (her murdered sister) was a promiscuous girl who flung herself at Rob (the man convicted of killing her) to be this. She's particularly incensed about the attempt to suggest their father didn't want Andrea seeing Rob because she was a "tramp" rather than because he thought Rob was a bad influence, especially as Andrea is no longer alive to defend herself. Mrs Hilmer also receives an anonymous phone call claiming that Ellie is still mentally unstable and once set fire to a classroom, which Ellie says is definitively untrue.
• In Deryni Rising, Charissa spreads lies and scary gossip about Alaric Morgan as part of her plan to undermine him. She's assisted by her lover, the traitorous Lord Ian Howell, who tells her, "I'd assumed it was an exercise in malice—not that you need the practice." Since Morgan is already a known Deryni, her efforts merely add to his bad reputation.
• Discworld:
  • In The Truth, William de Worde hears an endless stream of unfounded rumors, culminating in his demand that his fellow boarder who is always saying "You know what they say," actually tell him what they say and who they are, anyway, before revealing that he works for the newspaper — which is after the truth.
  • In Wyrd Sisters, Felmet commissions a play to slander the witches and make it so that people recognize him as king. Naturally, the witches can't be having with that.
• The Dresden Files:
  • In Turn Coat, the White Council claims that Morgan, who died heroically stopping a traitor, was in cahoots with him. Harry disapproves — and also thinks that it might not do what they wanted.
  • In Grave Peril, Justine threatens to claim that Harry and his friends were plotting to kill Bianca if Harry won't protect Thomas. Unusually, this only underscores how desperate Justine is.
• In the Father Brown story The Scandal of Father Brown, the scandal comes from a journalist's slander — all predicated on "you are so incurably romantic that your whole case was founded on the idea that a man looking like a young god couldn't be called Potter."
• In James Swallow's The Flight of the Eisenstein, Grulgor, bitterly envious, accuses Garro (behind his back) of thinking himself above the rest of them because he came from Terra, and that is why he will not join a lodge. In fact, Garro objects to the secrecy of it. Later, Dorn accuses Garro of having made up his story and says he should have him flogged and spaced for telling it.
• In The Goblin Emperor, it is hinted at that several very unflattering rumours regarding Maia's person and the reasons for his relegation circulate at court. It does not make his job any easier, especially since these rumours were started by his father, the previous emperor, who had said some things that could be interpreted very unfavourably. In truth, his father just resented Maia for being the result of an unhappy arranged marriage.
• Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating: Aisling cheats off Ishu's quiz, then falsely claims that Ishu is the one who cheated from her to destroy her chance for becoming Head Girl. However, this is exposed, although Aisling gets off with a slap on the wrist for doing it.
• Harry Potter:
  • In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, rumor spreads that Harry is the Heir of Slytherin after he is discovered to have the same ability to talk to snakes as Salazar Slytherin did. Ernie Macmillan in particular spreads the rumor that Harry was telling the snake in Dueling Club to attack Justin Finch-Fletchley, despite not being able to understand Parseltongue. It isn't until Harry's best friend Hermione is attacked by the Heir of Slytherin that Ernie apologizes.
  • In later books, Rita Skeeter (mudslinging, sensationalist "reporter") is a main source of the slander, as her stories range from mean-spirited half-truths to blatant lies throughout the back-half of the series, particularly in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Her claims that Harry was mentally and emotionally unstable prove particularly damaging, as Fudge uses this as reason to discredit Harry and Dumbledore's claims that Voldemort is back (see below). And her lies aren't just relegated to Harry as she has a side hustle writing salacious books about people, usually after they've died. More or less, she gets the big picture right but she's off on the fine details.
    • In the book, The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, she says that Dumbledore had a "friendship" with the previous Big Bad, Grindelwald, which is right. However, most of what she says about his family is more of this. His brother, Aberforth, who knows the whole story while still resenting him (very understandably) says it's a load of BS.
    • Snape also got one written about him after his death called Snape: Saint or Scoundrel that said he wasn't actually a deep-cover agent for the good guys that cast in doubt the truth that he was.
    • Newt Scamander is the only subject who is still around to defend himself from her. His book is called Man or Monster? The TRUTH About Newt Scamander. In the re-release of his textbook, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, he defends himself against what she said in the forward. She'd claimed that he wasn't actually a magizoologist but rather a spy for Dumbledore posing as one, but he says that he was actually a magizoologist and at the time - no one would pretend to be one because they were seen as weirdos. He also says the President of the American Wizarding World kicked him out of the country because he destroyed half of New York City, not because he broke her heart. Although he doesn't deny working for Dumbledore but rather says he is not elaborating to respect his privacy.
  • In The Goblet of Fire, Frank Bryce is named a suspect in the murders of the Riddle family since he had access to their house. That's it. When the townsfolk catch wind of it, it takes them all of one night to believe that he's a ruthless murderer. Even when the police let him go due to lack of evidence, the townsfolk never stop believing his guilt, and he is made a pariah for life.
  • Taken to a ridiculous level in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, wherein the Ministry of Magic and The Daily Prophet both do basically everything they possibly can to make people believe that Harry is either lying or insane and what makes it even more ridiculously slimy is that they don't even decide which of the two he is, making clear that all they care about is disproving him.
• In The Hour of the Dragon, The Plague is blamed on the king because of this. When he dies and a great storm immediately blows away the plague, everyone takes it a sign of divine favor.
• John Carter of Mars:
  • A Princess of Mars features Sarkoja, who also bears true but malicious tales.
    "Sarkoja told Sola that you had become a true Thark," she said, "and that I would now see no more of you than of any of the other warriors."
    "Sarkoja is a liar of the first magnitude," I replied, "notwithstanding the proud claim of the Tharks to absolute verity."
  • In Chessman of Mars, E-Thas repeats the tales that accuse the jeddak O-Tar of being afraid to go into rooms reputed to be haunted, and quickly assures him that it's all "foul slander".
• Lord Peter Wimsey:
  • In Unnatural Death, a doctor recounts to Lord Peter how his suspicions about an old woman's death had been translated into wild accusations by the rumor mill, forcing him to leave town.
  • In Strong Poison, Harriet Vane is cleared of murder charges. In later works, she still has a problem with this.
  • In Gaudy Night, several people are targeted by a poison-pen, including the aforementioned Harriet.
• In Malicious Slander, the Ganyo family arrange for Afi to marry son Elikem to drive away his girlfriend, whom they hate. They describe Elikem's girlfriend to Afi as a smoker, an alcoholic, manly-looking, an unfit mother to her and Eli's child, and even claim that she has some kind of "spiritual" hold of Elikem. Afi learns that it's all lies; Muna's only crime was to stand up and be assertive with Eli's domineering mother.
• In The Name of the Wind, Chronicler attempts to get Kvothe to tell him his story, and Kvothe is indifferent to his Shrouded in Myth status. It's when Chronicler repeats some of the slanders that Kvothe is moved — and persuaded.
• Northanger Abbey: After Catherine Morland turns down John Thorpe's proposal of marriage (without realizing what it was), Thorpe goes to General Tilney — who thinks she is rich (because of Thorpe's previous exaggerations) and hoping his son marries her—and rails that the Morlands are poor as churchmice. The General immediately orders her packed off back home.
• Guy de Maupassant's short story A Piece Of String centers on a notorious miser going to a community gathering, and picking up a piece of string from the road en route. A rival tradesman sees the miser pocket something plucked from the road, but says nothing. Later, the sheriff announces that the local regent has lost his purse, and anyone that finds it should turn it in for a reward. A second call for the missing purse is made, this time with the sheriff looking pointedly at the miser. Though he was never formally charged, scuttlebutt pegs the miser as snagging the purse and keeping mum. The man died in poverty because no one would believe his only prize that day was a piece of string.
• In Pride and Prejudice, the stories about Darcy are one of the things that turn Elizabeth against him. Only after she learns the truth does it occur to her that Wickham claimed to be reluctant to blacken Darcy's name out of respect for his father, but in fact, he spread the story whenever he had the chance. She also notes that he was careful to ask people whether they actually knew Darcy before starting his story.
• Mentioned in Protector of the Small. Although Kel makes a point of not trying to find out what people are saying of her, she's still a page when her ill-wishers start whispering that she's sleeping around. Her knight-master's Number Two brings it up as a potential difficulty when she becomes his squire (which he brushes off since court gossip has had him in bed with other men for years) and she realizes from an offhand remark that her friends have gotten into a lot of fights behind her back over her reputation. It's also mentioned that this happens to every woman who takes up martial training, even in nominally egalitarian groups like the Queen's Riders.
• In The Railway Series, Diesel spreads slander to try and get rid of Duck. The Fat Controller sees through it, however, and manages to expose Diesel when he tries to do the same to Henry.
• The later books in A Series of Unfortunate Events have this as a major plot point — the Baudelaire orphans have been accused of murder by the villain (of murdering the villain, in fact).
• In The Shining Falcon, a man slanders Maria's father to the prince, which is why she and her family have to flee.
• The Sunne in Splendour takes place in the Wars of the Roses and most all the characters face slander of some kind. The most prominent victim is Richard III, who is maligned with rumors that he wants to marry his niece, had his wife poisoned and murdered his nephews. In the book, which is firmly Ricardian, none of this is true but becomes historical record thanks to Henry Tudor's propaganda machine. Richard's brother, Edward, is also dogged by false rumors that he is illegitimate. However, the rumors that Edward was not free to marry his wife turn out to be true. His wife is dogged by rumors she seduced him with witchcraft, which is also untrue. She's simply very beautiful.
• In A Tale of Two Cities, having put the most malicious interpretation on her actions possible, Madame Defarge plots to slander Lucie, her father, and her young daughter, denouncing them for conspiracy.
• Helen runs into this a lot in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, up to and including accusations that she's had her son out of wedlock.
• In Thirteenth Child, Eff's uncles, aunts, and cousins are continually interpreting her acts in the worst possible light and spreading the tale.
• Vorkosigan Saga: In A Civil Campaign, Miles is surrounded by rumors that he killed Ekaterin's husband in order to woo her.
• Warhammer 40,000 Expanded Universe:
  • In the Ciaphas Cain novel The Traitor's Hand, Tomas Beije seems to convince himself of his own slander against Cain. The first hint of just how far he's taking an admittedly less-than-friendly rivalry comes when he tries to send a message back calling Cain's competence into question- just his competence, he swears, read nothing into his choice of Thought For The Day: "The traitor's hand lies closer than you think." But he's not drawing any conclusions. Really.
  • In the Horus Heresy novel False Gods, Horus opts for the "misleading truth". He tells Russ that Magnus has engaged in sorcery forbidden by the Emperor and eggs him on until Russ does not think it necessary to capture Magnus alive — but his actual motive was that Magnus's loyalty to the Emperor would interfere with his own plans.
  • In the Night Lords novel Lord of the Night, large chunks of the Backstory are about Malicious Slander. Whether the Emperor slandered the Night Haunter or the Night Haunter slandered the Emperor to Sahaal is unclear. Especially since the person claiming the latter is unreliable, and the claim is convenient to him, but it would explain a great deal.
  • In short story "Renegades" after the company goes renegade, Rykhel takes a saviour pod in hopes that he can Bring News Back; he tells the captain, Gessart, that he cannot be party to this evil. They had gone renegade to escape the danger approaching that planet, and Rykhel is going right back into its path. Nevertheless, when Gessart tells his company that they are true renegades and can not return, he claims that Rykhel deserted in fear of the punishment they would receive if caught.
• Wolf Hall portrays Lady Jane Rochford as a malicious gossip who is prone to creating rumors wholesale out of spite, since she's trapped in a horrible marriage with George Boleyn and that's how she chooses to deal with it. Thomas Cromwell doesn't necessarily believe her, but her stories are handy when it comes time to break Henry's marriage with Anne.
• Xanth: In Spell for Chameleon, Evil Magician Trent declares that he had turned people to fish — but only with water; despite the stories, he had not left them flapping about on land. He then points out that if he had won the war and the current king had lost it, they would be telling horrible stories about that king.

---