| A | B |
|---|
| abomination | disgust; vile, shameful action |
| altruism | or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others |
| archetype | an original model or type after which other similar things are patterned |
| catharsis | purging of emotions or relieving of emotional tensions |
| defile | make something dirty; make it lose its purity |
| disdain | regard or treat with contempt or to despise; sneer; belittle |
| epithet | word or phrase used in place of or in addition to a name to characterize the person, place, or thing |
| hamartia | error in judgment that a tragic protagonist makes which brings about his own suffering or demise |
| hubris | excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance |
| impetus | something that encourages a process to develop more quickly |
| insidious | working or spreading harmfully in a subtle or stealthy manner; sneaky, tricky, deceitful |
| insolent | boldly rude or disrespectful; insulting |
| juxtaposition | placing close together or side by side; especially for comparison or contrast |
| malediction | to say bad, hurtful things, to speak evil of, slander – an expressed wish that some form of adversity or unhappiness will happen |
| mediocre | ordinary, moderate quality; neither good nor bad |
| motif | seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true |
| oppressive | strong, burdensome, difficult to handle |
| paradox | seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true |
| pathos | words of passages an author uses to activate emotions of pity, compassion, or sympathy |
| perspicacity | keenness of judgment; perceptive; the ability to understand something readily and intuitively |
| principle | an accepted or professed rule of action or conduct |
| sepulcher | burial vault or tomb |
| tenacious | holding or tending to hold persistently to something; keeping a firm hold; highly retentive |
| transgress | ordinary, moderate quality; neither good nor bad |
| utopia | purging of emotions or relieving of emotional tensions |
