anemia: A condition of having too little iron in the blood.

Catechism: A book giving a brief summary of the basic principles of Christianity in question-and-answer form.

censorship: The control or regulation of speech and other forms of human expression, usually imposed by the government or some other powerful group of people. The purported purpose of censorship is to protect people from being exposed to thoughts or ideas that would be hurtful, disturbing or damaging for them to experience.

Charybdis: A whirlpool off the Sicilian coast, opposite the cave of Scylla. In the Odyssey, Odysseus must sail his ship between Scylla and Charybdis; though several of his men perish, the boat makes it through.

consumptive: An archaic name for someone with tuberculosis, a wasting disease of the lungs.

diphtheria: An acute infectious disease, which was at this time thought to be brought about by prolonged exposure to cold, and which was generally fatal.

dropsy: An archaic disease whose symptoms consisted of swollen limbs and which usually resulted in death.

dryad: A divinity presiding over forests and trees; a wood nymph.

epidemic: Spreading rapidly and extensively by infection and affecting many individuals in an area or a population at the same time.

execrable: Hateful.

Expressionism: Primarily a 20th century movement and predominantly seen in paintings, Expressionism embodies the idea that art can transport to the viewer a subjective understanding of the artist's inner experiences. Almost always, these artists chose to express their reactions to painful, disturbing, or even shameful ideas. This movement was also primarily German, though it had influential followers in France.

Gethsemane: The place in the New Testament of Jesus's agony and betrayal, a garden east of Jerusalem near the foot of the Mount of Olives; an instance or a place of great suffering.

giddiness: Having a reeling, lightheaded sensation; dizzy.

inscrutable: Difficult to fathom or understand; impenetrable.

libertine: One who acts without moral restraint; a dissolute person.

parallelepipedon: A prism whose bases are parallelograms.

pariah: A social outcast.

penitential: Something which relates to an act of self-mortification or devotion performed voluntarily to show sorrow for a sin or other wrongdoing.

Polyphemus: The Cyclops who confines Odysseus and his companions in a cave until Odysseus gets him drunk and blinds him while he is sleeping.

pornography: Sexually explicit depictions whose sole or primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal.

Priapus: The Greek god of Fertility, often used to reference sexuality or sexual freedom.

Providence: God

putrefaction: Decomposition of organic matter.

scapegoat: One who is made to bear the blame for others.

Scylla: A female sea monster mentioned in the Odyssey who lives in a cave opposite Charybdis and devours sailors.

summa cum laude: A latin phrase that refers to completing something "with highest honors."

• Biography of Frank Wedekind
• About Spring Awakening
• Character List
• Major Themes
• Glossary of Terms
• Short Summary
• Full Summary and Analysis
• Summary and Analysis of I, i - I, ii
• Summary and Analysis of I, iii - I, v
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• Summary and Analysis of II, iii - II, vi
• Summary and Analysis of II, vii
• Summary and Analysis of III, i - III, iv
• Summary and Analysis of III, v - III, vi
• Summary and Analysis of III, vii
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