Allusions Flashcards
”Achilles heel in Greek mythology”
Immortality, vulnerability, mythology, River Styx, poisoned arrow-Area of particular vulnerability
“Pounding Flesh”
Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice; Venice; Shylock, a moneylender; a pound of Antonio’s flesh; ships are lost at sea; insists that he must have a pound of flesh as the contract demanded-Insistence on being repaid
”Sacred Cow”
Hinduism; cows; sacred; not allowed to interfere- Protect sacred things; something you always want to do
“Crossing the Rubicon”
Julius Caesar; Rubicon; river; boundary; led his army across the river; no Turning back-dangerous, irreversible decision
”Pearls Before Swine”
Sermon on the Mount, Jesus; cast not your pearls before swine; who would appreciate it; incapable of appreciating something of value-offer something precious to someone or a group of people, unable to appreciate
”Once in a Blue Moon”
second full moon within the same calendar month; approximately every three years-occurs very rarely
Mrs. Grundy
Speed the Plough; play; “What would Mrs. Grundy say?”; narrow minded, conventional, prudish-a narrow minded attitude towards an action
Crocodile Tears
crocodiles; shed large tears before devouring their prey; no real feelings of sympathy for its prey-to show false sympathy for someone
Sirens
Greek Mythology; sea creatures; beautiful, irresistible song-anything that tempts a person away from safety and toward a destructive path; temptation used to lure a person
Read the Riot Act
English Common Law; read the Riot Act before action could be taken-stern warning; severe consequences will follow
Thirty Pieces of Silver/Betrayed with a kiss
Bible; Judas; disciple; betray Jesus to the authorities; payment; identified Jesus; kiss of identification-payment received for an act of treachery; supposed friend’s treachery
Gordian knot
legend; Greek king; extremely complex knot; oracle; whoever untied it would rule all of Asia; Alexander the Great; cutting through it with his sword-extremely complex problem; solving such a problem in a quick, decisive manner
Ivory Tower
poet; shut himself in an ivory tower so that he could compose poems; fairy tales; unreachable place; come to have negative connotations-secluded or protected from the real world and thus out of touch with reality
“All that Glitters is not gold”
proverb; Aristotle-appears valuable on the outside but may not be valuable; appearances can be deceiving
Sound and Fury
Shakespeare’s Macbeth-great, tumultuos, and passionate uproar; unimportant or meaningless
