allusions sem 2 part 2.

bedlam

• “Bedlam” was the popular nickname for London’s Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem, a mental hospital founded in the fourteenth century. Because the patients were simply housed there with little treatment, they tended to wander the halls talking to themselves or screaming and fighting with each other.

• “Bedlam” has come to mean wildly chaotic or extremely raucous and noisy.

albatross around ones neck

In “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a sailor shoots an albatross, a bird considered to be a good omen. As punishment, the sailor is forced to wear the carcass of the albatross around his neck.

An “albatross around a person’s neck” is some burden, often of guilt, a person must bear.

prometheus/promethian

In Greek mythology, Prometheus was a titan known for his cunning. Having been tricked by Prometheus, Zeus withheld fire from mankind. In response, Prometheus went to Mount Olympus and stole some fire, which he gave to man. Zeus punished him by chaining him to a rock; each day an eagle came and ate out his liver, which grew back each night. He was eventually rescued by Hercules.

Prometheus represents valiant resistance to authority or rebellion against the established order of the universe. The adjective “Promethean” refers to an act of such resistance.

juggernaut

“Juggernaut” is the name of a Hindu deity. His image is carried in an annual procession on a large cart. According to legend, devotees threw themselves in front of the cart and were crushed, believing this guaranteed immediate entry to Paradise.

A “juggernaut” is any force, especially a destructive force, that defies opposition. This can also be applied to a person that appears unstoppable.

sour grapes

In “The Fox and the Grapes,” a fable by Aesop, a fox tries over and over again to reach some grapes dangling from a vine above him. He finally gives up and mutters that the grapes were probably sour anyway, so they would not be worth having.

“Sour grapes” refers to the attitude of a person who has been disappointed or thwarted. The person bitterly rationalizes that what he or she had wanted was probably not so great after all.

sold down the river

In nineteenth-century America, during the days of slavery, sometimes wealthy homeowners would sell their house servants to plantation owners in the South. Thus, the servants were “sold down the (Mississippi) river.” The life of a house servant was far more pleasant than the life of a slave on a plantation, so the sold servants would naturally feel betrayed. In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the reason Jim runs away from Miss Watson is that he overhears her discussing selling him down the river.

To be “sold down the river” is to be betrayed or misled, especially by someone trusted.

nemesis

Nemesis was the Greek goddess of vengeance and retribution. She punished people for wrongdoing, especially for excessive pride.

● A person’s “nemesis” is that which causes his or her downfall, or the term can refer to the downfall itself.

Pyrrhic victory

• Pyrrhus was a general in classical Greece. After defeating the Romans in a battle in which he suffered great losses, Pyrrhus told those who wanted to congratulate him on his victory, “Such another victory and we are ruined.”

• A “Pyrrhic victory” is one in which the winner’s victory comes at such a great expense that it is scarcely better than losing.

scapegoat

According to the Book of Leviticus, each year on the Day of Atonement, a priest would symbolically place the sins of the Israelites on a goat and then send it out into the wilderness, taking the sins of the people with it.

A scapegoat is a person who is blamed or punished for someone else’s misdeeds. At times an entire group or race can become a scapegoat, such as the Jews during the Holocaust.

Don Quixote/Quixotic/Tilting at Windmills

Don Quixote is a romance written in the 1600s by Miguel de Cervantes. The hero, Don Quixote, loses his wits from reading too many romances, and he sets off on his own knightly adventures, accompanied by his sidekick, Sancho Panza. The two have various comic adventures. In one of the most famous, Don Quixote attacks a group of windmills, believing them to be giants. (This is referred to as tilting at windmills).

To be a “Don Quixote,” or to be “quixotic” is to be foolishly or impractically idealistic. “Tilting at windmills” refers to a naïve attempt to be heroic.

shibboleth

• This is a Hebrew word for an ear of corn. In the Old Testament, the Israelites used this as a password to prevent their enemies, who mispronounced the word “sibboleth,” from infiltrating their community.

• A “shibboleth” has come to mean a slogan or catchword used by, or associated with, a particular party, group, or sect.

doublespeak

• In his novel 1984, George Orwell used the term “doublespeak” to refer to a type of propaganda practiced by the state in which language is used ambiguously. For instance, the Defense Department was called the “Ministry of Peace.”

• “Doublespeak” refers to the deliberate use of evasive or ambiguous language

Murphys law

•This saying, originating in the 1940s, is as follows: “If anything can go wrong, it will.”

•People often cite “Murphy’s Law” when something goes wrong and there is a sense of inevitability about it.

flanderize

• In the television series The Simpsons, Ned Flanders is Homer Simpson’s neighbor. Serving as a comedic foil to the dysfunction of the Simpson household, Flanders’ family is more traditional, hard-working, and pious. In the early seasons, Ned Flanders had more depth to his character; however, as the series progressed, the writers played more and more into his religious devotion for humor. Ned quickly became a flatter character until he became synonymous with religious zealotry.

• ●  If a character has been Flanderized, it means that character has been made shallower

Rorschach Test

• A projective psychological test named after its inventor Hermann Rorschach. It involves showing a patient a series of ink-blots and asking them questions about what they see in them. Based on these responses/interpretations, testers claim to be able to analyze someone’s personality, aspirations, anxieties, or thought patterns.

the monkeys paw (curls)

• ●  “The Monkey’s Paw” is a 1902 short horror story written by W. W. Jacobs. In it, a family encounters a mummified monkey’s paw which is said to have the power to grant its bearer three wishes. The ways in which these wishes are granted are unexpected, terrifying, and costly. In the story, a father wishes for a bit of money to pay off his mortgage after which the monkey’s paw begins to curl. He receives this money, but it comes from a bereavement payment from his son’s employer after his son is killed in a factory accident.

• ●  We say that say that the monkey’s paw curls if

• some wish of yours is granted

in a way that is unexpected and comes with a great cost.