l'apothéose ?????
What does l'apothéose mean?
How about in the context of an absurd play by Ionesco. A quack doctor is espousing the benefits of yoghurt. He proclaims that "le yaourt est excellent pour l'estomac, les reins, l'appendicite et l'apothéose".
I am trying to understand what the playwright is doing here. Is it a euphemism for death? What does it mean?
Search from various English teachers...
Corrections · 4
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Hi Cassie! You're confused because the author intentionally misuses the word in order to show that the quack doctor doesn't know what he's talking about. "Apothéose" means the high point of something (for example of a play or a career), with a more epic, majestic, glorious shade of meaning than, say, "climax".
In English, what the doctor is saying would sound something like "Yoghurt is excellent for your stomach, your kidneys, your appendicitis, and your zenith". Note that appendicitis in this context doesn't make sense either. Nobody wants something that's good for their appendicitis, because appendicitis is an infection. You'd either want something that's good for your appendix (the body part that suffers from appendicitis) or something that's good against appendicitis.
Hope that helps!
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Thanks Philippe. I already hit up Google and Wikipedia, and about 5 different dictionaries, to no avail. What is worse is that English translator of the play did not even tackle the word - he just left it in French.
I do have a couple of translations, but none that make sense in this context.
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http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apothéose
Not sure if it's going to help?????
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