Noun
noble savage (plural noble savages)
(literature) A stock character embodying the concept of an idealized indigene or outsider who has not been corrupted by civilization and therefore symbolizes humanity's innate goodness.
Like Dickens, he began with a disclaimer: Man isn't a noble savage, he's an ignoble savage. Source: Internet
In France the stock figure that in English is called the "noble savage" has always been simply "le bon sauvage", "the good wild man", a term without any of the paradoxical frisson of the English one. Source: Internet
Like others who would henceforth write about the topic, Dickens begins by disclaiming a belief in the "noble savage": To come to the point at once, I beg to say that I have not the least belief in the Noble Savage. Source: Internet
Pope's phrase, "Lo the Poor Indian", became almost as famous as Dryden's "noble savage" and, in the 19th century, when more people began to have first hand knowledge of and conflict with the Indians, would be used derisively for similar sarcastic effect. Source: Internet
Keeley argues that the "noble savage" paradigm has warped anthropological literature to political ends. Source: Internet
Mather viewed Hayy as a noble savage and applied this in the context of attempting to understand the Native American Indians, in order to convert them to Puritan Christianity. Source: Internet