Critical Anthology - The Bloody Chamber - Task Seven:

Essential Vocabulary:

aesthete - a person who is appreciative of and sensitive to art and beauty.
aigrette - a headdress consisting of a white egret's feather or other decoration such as a spray of gems.
avarice - extreme greed for wealth or material gain.
baroque - relating to or denoting a style of European architecture, music, and art of the 17th and 18th centuries that followed Mannerism and is characterized by ornate detail. In architecture the period is exemplified by the palace of Versailles and by the work of Wren in England. Major composers include Vivaldi, Bach, and Handel; Caravaggio and Rubens are important baroque artists.
bier - a movable frame on which a coffin or a corpse is placed before burial or cremation or on which they are carried to the grave.
billets-doux - a love letter.
carillon - a set of bells usually hung in a tower and played either by keys and pedals or mechanically.
carnal - relating to physical, especially sexual, needs and activities.
catafalque - a decorated wooden framework supporting the coffin of a distinguished person during a funeral or while lying in state.
chthonic - relating to or inhabiting the underworld.
dolorous - feeling or expressing great sorrow or distress.
eldritch - weird and sinister or ghostly.
enfer (translate the French) - hell or inferno
gourmand - a person who enjoys eating and often eats too much.
immolated - kill or offer as a sacrifice, especially by burning.
importunate - persistent, especially to the point of annoyance.
interdiction - a military term for the act of delaying, disrupting, or destroying enemy forces or supplies en route to the battle area. A distinction is often made between strategic and tactical interdiction.
jinn - a prostitute's client.
lisle - a fine, smooth cotton thread used especially for stockings.
loge - a private box or enclosure in a theatre.
loquacity - the quality of talking a great deal; talkativeness.
lustratory - 
missal - a book containing the texts used in the Catholic Mass throughout the year.
nacreous - having the lustre of mother-of-pearl
parure - a set of jewels intended to be worn together.
rictus - a fixed grimace or grin.
sacerdotal - the belief that propitiatory sacrifices for sin require the intervention of a priest. That is, it is the belief that a special, segregated order of men, called the priesthood, are the only ones who can commune directly with God or the gods. This system of the priesthood is exemplified by the priests in the Old Testament.
sadomasochistic - the derivation of pleasure from the infliction of physical or mental pain either on others or on oneself.
sardonic - grimly mocking or cynical.
trousseau - the clothes, linen, and other belongings collected by a bride for her marriage.
vellum - fine parchment made originally from the skin of a calf.
vicuna - the wool from the vicuña's fine lustrous undercoat
viscera - the internal organs in the main cavities of the body, especially those in the abdomen, e.g. the intestines.
voluptuary - a person devoted to luxury and sensual pleasure.