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Les Misérables vocabulary
43 Christianity and/or Biblical vocabulary words
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Megaera
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tags: [mythology]
► definition
Definition:one of the Erinyes, a.k.a. "Furies". She is the cause of jealousy and punishes those who commit infidelity. Her two sisters are Alecto and Tisiphone.
► uses
Uses:
They paced the chamber with hurried and unequal steps, and wild and uncouth gestures; waving, with a reckless ferocity, burning torches and whips of scorpions. It is hardly necessary to add that these were the Furies, and that the conversation which I am about to report was carried on with the Fates.
'A thousand serpents!' shrieked Tisiphone. 'I will never believe it.'
'Racks and flames!' squeaked Megæra. 'It is impossible.'
'Eternal torture!' moaned Alecto. ''Tis a lie.'
'Not Jupiter himself should convince us!' the Furies joined in infernal chorus.
Benjamin Disraeli. The Infernal Marriage (1834)
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The women rendered desperate by the massacre of their lovers, and eager for revenge, found means to obtain it the very next night. They overpowered the Tahaitians in their sleep, and murdered them to a man! As soon as it was light in the morning, these blood-stained Megæras sought for the corpses of their beloved Englishmen, and perceiving that Adams was missing, conjectured that he might be concealed and safe; although traces of blood were visible on the ground of his hut.
Otto von Kotzebue. A New Voyage Round the World in the Years 1823, 24, 25, and 26. Vol. 1
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Madame Thenardier's countenance assumed that peculiar expression which is composed of the terrible mingled with the trifles of life, and which has caused this style of woman to be named megaeras.
Victor Hugo. Les Misérables
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