The Facts on File Dictionary of Allusions - Green Valley High School

to appreciate the true situation. If he thinks the
problem is going to go away by itself he’s living in
Disneyland.
Dives (diveez) A very rich man, especially one
who is obsessed with material concerns and
ignores the interests of others. In the Bible, Christ
tells the story of a rich man named Dives who
ignores the plight of the beggar Lazarus at his gate
and is consequently condemned to an eternity in
hell while Lazarus goes to heaven (Luke 16:19–
31). <strong>The</strong> rich man is not actually named in the
original text but acquired the name in the Latin
version of the New Testament, apparently from
the Latin dives, meaning “rich.” “Remember, we are
bid to work while it is day—warned that ‘the night
cometh when no man shall work.’ Remember the
fate of Dives, who had his good things in this life”
(Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, 1847).
divided against itself See house divided against
itself, a.
divide the sheep from the goats See separate
the sheep from the goats.
Doctor Caligari (kaligahree) A mysterious villain.
Doctor Caligari is an evil magician and hypnotist
in the celebrated 1919 silent German
horror movie <strong>The</strong> Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, in which
he was played by Werner Krauss. In the original
fi lm, Caligari uses his powers of hypnotism to
make a sleepwalker carry out murders on his
orders, but he is later revealed to be a character
in the dreams of a patient in the asylum for the
insane of which Caligari is director. He felt as if his
fate was in the hands of a powerful Doctor Caligari, and
that he was powerless to resist any instructions he was
given.
Doctor Kildare
Doctor Crippen (kripbn) A wife- murderer or
other evil, criminally- minded person. Americanborn
London doctor Hawley Harvey Crippen
(1862–1910) hit the headlines in the United Kingdom
in 1910 when he was discovered to have
murdered his wife Belle, a former music- hall performer.
After killing his wife with the poison hyoscine
hydrobromide, dismembering her body, and
hiding the remains under the basement of their
home, Crippen attempted to fl ee the country with
his mistress Ethel le Neve on board the cargo ship
Montrose. He was arrested when the ship docked in
Canada (thus becoming the fi rst person to be
arrested as the result of messages sent by wireless
telegraphy), brought back to London, and hanged.
Who would have thought from that quiet, charming
demeanor that we were dealing with a second Doctor
Crippen?
Doctor Dolittle (doolitbl) A person who is very
good with animals and seems to understand the
way they think and behave. <strong>The</strong> allusion is to the
books of British writer Hugh Lofting (1886–1947)
depicting the adventures of the animal- loving Dr.
John Dolittle, who possesses the power to talk
with the various creatures that come to him for
treatment. <strong>The</strong> books, published over three de cades
from 1920 to 1952, have since inspired several
fi lms. <strong>The</strong> way she communicates with those horses, you
would think she was Doctor Dolittle.
Doctor Fell, I do not like thee, See i do not like
thee, doctor fell.
Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde See jekyll and
hyde.
Doctor Kildare (kildair) Archetype of a handsome,
caring young doctor. In the U.S. tele vi sion
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